human
I remember a young girlhappy, playing with other childrenliving in the forest with her clan, Clan Fihrallenwatching the craftsmen do their worklistening to the stories of the Keeper and the Hahrenlearning about the Halla and the Creatorswondering when she will get to care for the Halla like others do
I remember a young girlwatching the hunters go into the forest to bring back kills for the Clanwatching the crafters forge swards and create bows and make armourwatching the Keeper and his First perform enchantments on the weapons of the Hunterswondering if she will one day be able to fashion a bow as well as the craftsman she watches does
I remember a young girllaughing with her parents, tracing her finger along the vallaslin on their faceswondering when she will get her ownplaying the learning games with other children in the Clanbeing careful to not stray too far from the Clan lest she be captured by the hateful humans
I remember a young girllearning the Code of Vir Tanadhal, given to the Dalish by Anduil herself: Vir Assan, the Way of the Arrow; Vir BorAssan, the Way of the Bow; Vir Adahlen, the Way of the Forestoverhearing a Hunter speaking of Vir Banalras, the Way of Shadow, and wondering what it meanslearning that the Clans Healer followed Vir Atishan, the Way of Peace
I am not that girl.
That girl had her life that could have been taken from her when she was eight and came into her magic. The Clan already had a Keeper and a First and a SecondClan Fihrallen did not allow more than three magic-capable within it. That girl tried to hide her magic at first, scared of it, not understanding just how it was she could use it; it was an accident, when snapping her fingers during the night had conjured a tiny flame in the palm of her hand, she hadnt meant it. But the talent could not be hidden for long, and the Clan knew soon enough that they had more magic than it could bear inside it. She was given a pack and a dagger and sent on her way to wander through the forest in the north-west of the land called Ferelden. She wandered for days, scared, alone, hidingshivering from cold and hunger, never knowing which step would be her final one. She came upon a village of humans, almost by surprise; the humans saw her, saw the pointed ears, started yelling at her to go away, or ordering her to do things as if she was some slave they owned. A flash of anger from her saw her hand covered in fire briefly, but it was enough. The humans were suddenly fearful and left her alone, but the next day two large men in armour found her and took her away from the village. They looked after her but did not treat her well. If the two men had been made entirely of the metal they wore, she would not have been surprised. She was taken to a tower, given a bed, a bath, food and drinkand she was told she would be cared for, taught, educated, instructed. She was told she could never leave the tower, for her own safety. For many years she was a well-taught and well-cared for prisoner, instructed in the use of the magic that scared her.
I am that girl.
Loriel Fihrallen if she abandoned the name of the Clan that had abandoned her, shed be just Loriel was given to reflecting on the events of her life so farand there were a lot of them. She was a young woman, now, a few months past nineteen years. Like most elves, she stood at just under five-and-a-half feet tall, about the same height as an average human woman; her chest-long dark brown hair, normally light and bouncy even in its regular pony tail, hung drab and limp in the rain that seemed to constantly fall in the place they were in; her large, pale-blue eyes were bright, and peered out from deep sockets that were accentuated by high and slightly-angled cheekbones; her small, straight nose sat proudly in the middle of her small, slightly-rounded face, and was perched just above a thin-lipped mouth that rarely smiled these days. A drop of rain rolled down her nose and she wiped it away in annoyance.
Like most elves, Loriel, too, was possessed of a thin frame, a slender figure, long and thin limbs. There was no doubting she was female, though; those physical properties that defined a female body were well-present in Loriel, and although her breasts were not large nor her hips wide, they were sufficient in both cases that she could never be mistaken for a male. As to her craft these daysfew would mistake her for being other than what she was: a mage. The staff she carried saw to that. She had long ago lost her dagger; indeed, it had been taken from her when the two men in armour Templars had found her. These days she carried a staff that was almost as tall as she was, a pole fashioned from a wood she did not know, leather bindings wrapped along much of the shaft for grip, a tapered blade of iron at one end and a small blue crystal fixed at the other. She had used the staff in anger once, and knew that it favoured small bolts of electricity that shot out of the crystal; she clearly remembered the soft hum of the lightning fragments as they darted from the staff towards her foe. She was a mage, but her magic still scared her; she had only recently passed her Harrowing, but her magic still scared her.
She was not necessarily aloof, but shed chosen to sit apart from the rest of the group she was with; it wasnt quite her way, to sit apart, but she didnt really feel like she belonged. They were at a camp, a dozen or so of them, in this place called The Fallow Mire: it was a dark, dreary place, a virtual desolation of swamp, where the sun never seemed to shine and the rain seemed to be the only constant. Their party was an advance scout: led by a dwarven woman named Lace Harding, their job was to make reconnaissance of an area for when the Herald of Andraste arrived. Reportedly the Herald was the only person who could seal the rifts in the Fade that had recently begun appearing all over the place, and there were a few noted hereat least Loriel could understand that much.
Her thin robes hung about her, clinging to her lithe form from the soaking given to them by the rain, as she waited for Harding to give instructions to the group. The robes were not about to become see-through, there was no danger of that, but wet, clingy robes were never fun to have to wear. She was starting to doubt shed ever be dry againor warm. The Fallow Mire was in the southern part of Ferelden, not too far from the Korcari Wilds, and southern Ferelden was generally cold. Add a dark, wet swamp to the cold, and the Fallow Mire was looking like being a very unattractive part of Thedas.
She sneezed, a small, dainty sound, and rubbed her nose again to get rid of the rain drops that would never leave her alone. Hopefully Harding would have those instructions soon. At least it was only a light rain, and not a heavy downpour.
gpt
No matter the hour, it was always dark, adn it was always raining. The Mire was a place that very few came to, and even fewer thought well of. The damp and the chill and the very stench of the place was an excellent deterrent to those who came in without ill intent. Smugglers and barbarians were a frequent haunt to the place, which made one of the new arrivals seem less out of place.
There was a primary camp, frequented by the main scouting team of the newly minted Inquisition. Most kept close to it, aiming for safety in numbers. Few had ventured deeper in, and fewer still were outside of the camp. A small fire was burning, it was a smoky affair caused by some of the wood being salvaged from the Mire itself. One man stayed close to it, seemingly un-bothered by the rain or the cold. He was kneeling close to the flames, what looked like a piece of antler in his hand, holding it over the flames and rotating it slowly as he examined the smoothed and sharpened edges. Care had gone into what he was holding, it seemed an antler dagger.
The man was not a small one, looking to be over six feet in height if he stood straight, and more than five feet across at the shoulder. His face was seamed and weathered, long years of care and stress etched there. He was tanned and wind-burnt, a man clearly used to the extremes of weather. He looked out at the world through bright hazel eyes, edging towards a golden hue. Wolf eyes they had been called more than once. His chest, forearms, and lower legs were necased in a burnished grey metal, carefully treated to make sure they held no real shine. The rest of him was wrapped in heavy furred hide, taken from the bodies of some of the larger bears that were seen in Thedas. There were belts across his chest, and thighs, all them studded with what looked like short stabbing blades, but there seemed to be no hint of metal amongst them. Standing tall beside him, it's point embedded in the ground, was a sword. The blade was nearly five feet long, and a full hands width across. Unlike other weapons among the scouts, this one had no shine of metal on it. It glowed faintly in the firelight, a dull ivory colour, like aged tooth or bone. A flatblade, a weapon well known to be used among the Chasind of the Korcari Wilds, but even then only by some of their greater warriors, and all of them were known to be blessed by the shamans of the tribes. Such was teh legacy of Disa of the clan SIlverfire, known to his people as the Restless for his long travels.
Older than many of the scouts at this point, Disa had been given command of a small team by Harding, not wanting to waste his experience. Travels to many regions of Thedas, long years of experience in avoiding conflict and heading straight into it, he had a long and varied set of skills to his name. He looked back to the camp. He'd met two of the people that Harding was assigning to his team, a man named Garrett that had been a scout in the Orlesian army for some years before leavingn to join the Inquisition. He was quick, quiet, and good at his job. The other was a hunter from Redcliffe, Good with a bow and good at spotting signs. Disa had been told by Harding that he would be getting a fourth soon, and then they would be sent out to bring back a record of the surrounding area. It was what they were here for, and Disa wanted to get to it already.
He'd enlisted into the Inquisition out a sense of requirement. There was a huge damned hole int he sky now, and if the Herald had managed to limit the effect of it, the fact remained that it was still there, adn had been raining demons onto the land for some time. While things seemed to have calmed down, there were still open fade rifts, adn from them demons still periodically poured out. The Mire was always a dangerous place, but it had become lethal of late. Disa contented himself with the thought that he had faced worse in his time than demons or undead. Disa cocked his head at the sound of a faint sound, almost like a child sneezing. But there was no child anywhere around them. He looked about, trying to pick outt he source of hte sound. There was a slight form standing not too far from other members of his team. Finally, after what felt like forever, Harding appeared. Disa sighed in relief. Almost time to move then. He knew his standing orders, so returned to hardening his antler.
Harding didn't speak much to her team in the field, there was little need. Simple instructions, work to be done. She looked to Garret, and nodded.
"Your team could use some magic support, take the new girl with you. Once you're all acquainted, get to it." The dwarf said simply. Garret looked over to see the new girl. The elf. Having already met his direct superior, he had a sneaking suspicion that this wasn't going to go over terribly well. Still, orders were orders, adn he stepped closer to her.
"Miss?" He asked, no sure of her name. "I'm Scout Garret, and Lieutenant harding has asked me to show you to your Scout Sergeant so we can get underway." He said with a pleasant tone to his voice, gesturing to the more distant camp fire that Disa crouched at.
human
Loriel looked up at the voice that sounded near her. Finally, someone letting her know just what she was supposed to be doing. The man human, of course had a neutralno, almost welcomingexpression on his face, the expression more-or-less matching the tone of the voice that accompanied it. He was wearing what looked like standard armour, carried a dagger at his hip and a small blade on his other hipor at least she thought he was. Might have just been a trick of the light, what blades she imagined him carrying. She nodded, wiped her nose clean of rain drops again, picked up her staff, and slowly stood up.
Loriel, she announced in a small, uncertain voice. LorielFihrallen. She felt the small catch in her voice like she was about to declare herself without clan. She may as well be. You said Lieutenant Harding has orders for us? She followed the man Garret, hed said his name was to the small fire not too far off. She was aware of her boots falling on the spongy ground if there was solid, rocky ground, she was managing to so far find every space without it. Her robes, now quite effectively soaked, were clinging to her and making it a little more difficult to move in, but not so much that she was actually being hampered.
As they walked, she slung her staff over her shoulder the small strap was also magical, to match the staff, and slung over her shoulder in much the same manner as a bowman would sling his bow, but when the staff was grabbed for use, the strap would disappear, only to again appear when the staff needed to be secured. It was part of the curiosity that was a mages staff: no-one except those who crafted staves knew how they worked, and some suspected even the craftsmen themselves didnt know.
Her heart was pounding in her chest as she approached the fire with Garret. She was actually going on a real mission, and she was going to be expected to support these people they might end up relying on her. She wasnt sure she could do this, but this was where the Inquisition had sent her, and Harding had apparently determined this was where she was going to be best used. If only they knew that she had no real experience outside the Tower shed only completed her Harrowing a couple of weeks ago!
Then she caught sight of the man who would apparently be leading them: he was much taller than she, and seemed to be almost as wide as she was tall. Wrapped in hides and furs and small bladesshe may have been in a Tower for most of her life, but she recognised this one from what studies she remembered from her clan, and she just knew that this was going to be a Bad Idea. As tempting as it might have been to turn away, she steeled herself; she needed to push through this. She stopped and pushed a lock of rain-soaked hair from her forehead.
We have orders, Sergeant? she asked in a quiet and flat voice.
gpt
Disa looked up frorm his fire, seeing the approach of his team. He listened to the new arrival speak, adn took her in. By all the Gods adn their Mothers, she was a slight thing. She looked like he could break her in half, but then perhaps that was being unkind. When you were that height, then there was only so much you could do to offset that. He picked out the way her robes had clearly not been treated for the weather. He saw a point of iron near her legs, had amoment of wondering if against all odds he had a spear carrying scout. But no, the clothes, the build, and the crystal capping off the staff told him what he needed to know.
"I asked for another scout to join my team, and I'm given a knife-eared robe?" Disa asked, checking the antler blade again, before rubbing a little grease intot he blade to help seal it from the elements. Once done, he homed it in a sheath near his knee.
Garret swallowed. It wasn't a secret that Disa had some issues with elves at time, and a few with mages, but this was more pronounced. There were few magesw that didn't take exception to the term 'robe', and no elf yet born took the name 'knife ear' easily.
"Sir-" Garret started, but Disa cut him off.
"Her clan?" Disa demanded, looking right at Garret.
"Sir, she's right here, she can-"
"Clan name, Scout." Garret sighed.
"Fihrallen sir."
"Oh, wonderful, my day keeps getting better and better." Disa groused, standing up from the fire, pushing hte fur off of his arms. The hide armour that was on his upper arms seemed ringed with bands of steel, each of them looking a little different. Garret had seen this before, adn knew what they were. Trophy rings, each one said to be hammered out of the blade of a worthy foe that Disa had felled. As he was standing, and looking at the newly arrived elf, a hand was absently trailing along his abdomen, like he was retracing the ghostly echoes of a sensation. "So tell me now Robe, are you Harding's idea of a joke? Or are your skills far past your look? Because you look like you're barely out of the womb. So what is it you're specialized in? Fire won't be terribly helpful in all this damp and chill. Cold would be a winner, and lightning is always practical. Or did they send me a healer, which is useful in and of itself. So what can I expect from you? What can I count on you for?" Disa asked, folding his arms over his chest, keepign his back straight, taller than either of the men, but towering over the soaked and bedraggled looking elf.
human
Oh, that stung. Loriel was sure the man couldnt be any more negative about her if he tried. It was hard exceedingly hard to form a good First Impression of a person when that persons opening words were insults. It didnt help that the man was right about her on many levels, but hed gotten her hackles up the moment hed finished his first sentence. Garret, she thought, was embarrassed for heron her behalf. Clearly the scout didnt hold the same attitudes as their sergeant or, if he did, he was more discreet about it.
Loriel felt the annoyance rise to the surface, and she wasnt able or inclined, now to try and keep it down. She felt her right hand clench into a small, tight fist as she responded in a quiet, but heated, voice.
My skills are more supportive and defensive, she hissed angrily. You are right that Im young, but that does not make me useless or incapable. My staff generates bolts of electricity to damage or stun. I can provide some healing, and I can create barriers that can protect against the attacks of your foes. And if you can keep a civil tongue in that thickshemhead of yours, I might even let you benefit from my skills.
She might have looked almost comical, as she stared up angrily at a man who was close to a full foot taller than her and easily twice both her width and mass, raindrops falling off the tip of her nose, her light-grey robes darkened with the soaking of the rainthe idea that she might have looked silly apparently hadnt occurred to her. All she knew was that he was right that she was barely old enough to have experience of any worth, she didnt have any kind of useful experience, and she was angry enough that shed prove him wrong or die trying.
Now, you can accept that Im in your group as additional support, or you can run away and complain to Lieutenant Harding. Which will it be,shem?
gpt
Garett stared at Loriel for a moment. It was hard to say if the words she'd chosen were the perfect option, or one that would end up with her nursing a broken jaw. Disa was sometimes hard to predict, especially around elves. The scout shifted slightly, not wanting to be in the line of fire if this went badly.
Disa simply cocked his head to one side, taking in the sight of this wisp of a girl standing her ground. He threw his head back and barked out a laugh. When he looked at her once more there was a smile on his face.
"Oh, and the Robe has some spirit to her! Good, that alone may keep you alive in this place knife-ear!" He announced. His smile fell then, and he unfolded his arms, his face and tone taking on a deadly serious regard. "But know, if my words offend you spellbind,Tel'abelas."
As he finished that last, both of the other scouts blinked in surprise. Of all the things they had expected to hear from Disa, a phrase spoken in well enunciated Elvish was not one of them. Given his disdain for them, it seemed odd that he might be well acquainted enough to speak a language that most elves did not.
"You are now a part of a military force knife-ear, your personal opinions and feelings are completely without merit. If those feelings cause you to withhold support that this team would benefit from, then you will have become nothing more than a liability, which is exactly what I expect of you. And if you do not support the team, the team does not support you, and tell me now, which do you think is most needing of support?" Disa asked, his tone making it clear that he knew the answer, and didn't rightly expect one from her. He turn, and gripped the long haft of his flat blade, and pulled it from the ground. No ring of metal came, only the quiet of the newly disturbed earth pulled free by the blade. The guard on the blade slotted into a pair of hooks the hung at Disa's shoulders, hanging without a sheathe on his back. "Now then. All three of you. Fall in. We have work to do." Disa waved a hand, and started to advance inot the Mire, not looking back to see if the others followed him.
Garret nodded at the last few pieces of the Disa's speech. Not pleasant, but true. The team lived or died by the ability to support one another. He made a fast check of himself, confirming his gear, before nodding to the hunter among them. That man had his bow out, and was stalking after their over-sized sergeant.
"Well then Loriel, shall we?" He asked with a faint smile, his tone faintly teasing, but also encouraging. He winked at her a moment, adn then began his advance into the Mire. Time to go to work.
human
Loriel was at least gratified the man found her spirit not lacking. But there was no way hed done anything like give her confidence that he was a good man. He might be a good soldier, but he was not a good personand to Loriel, that made all the difference. He hadnt asked for her name beyond her clan, hadnt bothered to give her the names of the rest of their troop, and his only words to her were insulting and denigrating. Howeverhed clearly had some extended contact with elves before, given his slight use of the elven language; whether he knew more, or only knew a few choice phrases, time would tell. If she cared to find out. It was surprising enough that he knew that phrase.
Garret, thoughshe was warming to him, if only in a personal way. Hed tried to defend her against their sergeant, tried to be at the least neutral towards her, if not friendlythis Garret she could work with. The other scout, the one with the bow, had barely looked at her throughout the entire interaction, possibly in agreement with their sergeants general demeanour towards both elves and mages. If their sergeants attitude towards her didnt improve, shed speak to Harding later about a new assignment. Surely the Inquisition, fledgling as it was, would have uses for a healer mage.
For a moment she hesitated, as the sergeant and Bow-man stalked off, followed by Garret. A second of indecision should she follow? It was tempting not to. Butthat would look bad if she didnt. She could probably blame the sergeant, say he didnt want her on the team that wouldnt be a lie, for while his words barely accepted her, his attitude fully rejected her. But Garrethe didnt deserve to be abandoned just because his sergeant was an ass. She sighed softly, checked her staff was still secured over her shoulders, then moved on to catch up with Garret.
The ground was wet, a little soggy, yielding to footfalls but not enough to try and trap boots. Her robe was long enough that it was dragging through the wet grass, just making the garment wetter than it already wasif that was possible. As she caught up to Garret she brought her hand up to her nose and mouth to muffle another sneeze, then she fell into step beside the man.
He islenalas lathdin, she muttered with annoyance as she matched the scouts stride; there was no disguising the fact that her words had been intended as an insult. Sorry, she added quickly, her glance flicking towards the man next to her. Your sergeant does not hold any regard for me. Have you known him long?
gpt
Disa kept moving, taking int he surrounding area, picking out the features fo the land. Narrow bands of 'dry' land, small islands off into the waters, easily reached since the water wasn't more than knee deep in most places. But then again, the Fallow Mire was a dangerous place under most circumstances, since the Breach it had become much more dangerous. He saw a form moving out in the waters, and held up a hand to slow the rest fo the team. He pointed to the form, and then gestured, directing them around it. It staggered like an undead, and while there was only one of them, he had no desire to go after it and potentially attract however many more of them might be out there.
Cutting across the ground brought his feet into contact with firmer ground, something solid. The old trade road, still running through the Mire. It wasn't maintained, but it was still used often enough to keep it usable to most. It would provide easier movememtn, but it would also leave them more exposed. Nothing for it. Disa led them forward along the road.
Garret sighed at the question.
"Not long. Long enough to know him some. There is...history between him and the Dalish, and he carries it closer than might be wisest." Garret said quietly, a political way of saying that he didn't agree with Disa's stance, but perhaps did understand it.
human
Mmm, Loriel replied quietly. He has more than some history, if hes taken the trouble to learn some of the language of the elvehn. That Garret was apparently happy to talk with her made her feel a little more at ease. She could sense the man wasnt going to do or say anything to upset or offend their sergeant, and she was fine with that; she wasnt about to take a backward step from their leaders attitude, so shed confront him directly if need be.
So whats his name? she asked curiously, her ears very aware of the sounds their feet were making as they trudged through the damp grass and soggy ground.
Disa, Garret replied shortly, then held up his hand to quiet her conversation, and pointed at a shambling figure not far to one side in the waters. Hed seen Disas gestures, but wasnt sure if Loriel had she may not have, and he wasnt going to take the chance she hadnt, nor risk Disas ire for not making sure the girl was quiet when needed.
The elven girl at least acknowledged the instruction to keep quiet when she saw Garret raise his hand and point, and her eyes followed his gesture. It took her a couple of seconds, but her eyes picked out what Garret was pointing at, and they narrowed slightly. Instinctively her hand went to her staff, the strap vanishing to release the weapon as her fingers closed around the shaft; she held it ready, the blue crystal at the staffs tip flickering slightly as the staff was called to action.
Undead, she hissed softly, as she followed Garrets lead in making sure her feet found solid ground or ground as solid as possible in this mire. She might have little experience, but she had lots of knowledge from years of study on a lot of loreand from the terror-filled weeks in the Ferelden Circle Tower during the Fifth Blight, before the Hero of Ferelden had come through.
Garret looked at the elf and nodded slightly he had to concede to her knowledge, he knew. He idly wondered if Disa would do the same when warranted, but would never give voice to that thought. Then their feet found the more-solid road, and the pair moved ahead.
Loriel didnt secure her staff, though; she could see that Garret had returned his knives to their sheathes on his hips, but she was not that comfortable that she wanted to secure her staff. She had a feeling that things were going to get worse before they got better.
gpt
The road was as solid as could be expected,the hard stones that had been laid out were half sunken now, but they were still easier footing than the grasses ahd been. The dead that stumbled through the waters didn't pick them out, and seemed content to let them be for now. Disa strained his ears to pick out the sounds of the Mire. The steps of the aimless dead, the breathing of the team that followed him. And there was a faint, intermittent crackle. He risked a glance behind him. The mage was armed, adn her staff gave very faint sparks now and again. Not as subtle as he mighht like, but it wasn't somethign that would give them away either, not with the random nature of it's flaring.
They pressed on.
Disa raised a closed fist as they came to a raised stone bluff that jut close tot he road. They moved into the lee of it, out of hte wind, and into more limited fall of rain. Disa flared out his cloak around himself, and drew out what looked like parchment and charcoal. He scribed neat, quick lines onto the parchment, mapping out the way they had come. He checked his work, nodded, adn then tucked the parchment away once more.
"Take a few moments. Drink. Eat if you wish." He said quietly. Travel like this had gone on long enough that he knew that there would need to be a break now, while things were quiet. Disa pulled a flask from his hip, downed some water. He wiped his mouth, and looked up at the raining sky. He was concerned that there might be some other form of attacker that he didn't yet know of. After all, demons had rained from the breach. Who was to say some form of demon would not take wing, and come at them from such an angle?
Garret leaned on the bluff, taking a drink from his own flask, and then offering it to Loriel. It was a simple enough gesture, something to show that her truly bore her no ill will. The last of the team stretched, adn approached the edge of the waters, not far from them. he knelt, and reached his hands out.
"Do not-!" Disa started to hiss out, but the hunter splashed his hadns in the waters, looking to clean them of something he'd acquired on them in their travel. Seconds later an arrow hissed into the ground not an inch from him. Disa cursed, a fierce, roiling sound that came from his own native language. Off in the waters, the undead with a bow drew back again, and fired, the hunter actively dodging this shot, and getting his own bow out. The water rippled as three corpses stood up near the hunter. Disa snarled adn threw himself forward, his weapon in hand, and landing beside one of the new attackers. His flatblade swept in, and the sound the sheared bones filled the air quickly. His landing in the water prompted the rising of another two corpses fromt he waters, one of these having a bow, and drawing back to fire.
It seemed that they'd found their opposition ready for them.
human
Loriel was content to hang back slightly as the group came to a brief stop. She watched as Disa checked their surroundings, checked the group probably reluctantly including herself, she thought idly checked the terrain. She was curious as he drew parchment and charcoal from a pocket, then nodded in understanding as he made a quick sketch of what appeared to be a rough map of their path so far. His suggestion that they break for a snack or drink was a good one, except she only had a small bag of nuts with her, and didnt have the space in her robes to carry a flask. Trying to drink the rain water would be futile, and there was no way shed even consider drinking from the swamp.
The surprise was obvious on her face when Garret offered his flask to her, and her hesitation in accepting was born from natural, ingrained suspicion. In her experience, the Ferelden Circle treated all mages as equalif you were human; an elven mage was not-quite equal, and a dalish mage even less so. A couple of inappropriate advances towards her had started as simple acts of apparent kindness such as Garret was doing now. She forced her suspicion down and took the offered flask, in return offering her bag of nuts to him. She was silently thankful when the man took a handful, and she carefully sipped from the flask a couple of times before handing it back. She was starting to like the man; certainly he was so far easier to get along with than their sergeant.
She heard Disas partial warning, but it seemed to be too late, and then things escalated rapidly. The undead theyd seen earlier suddenly noticed them, then more started appearing from the swamp around them, arrows started hissing towards them; Loriel had barely had enough time to return the nuts to her small pouch when an arrow swished past her lithe body. Then Disa was striding into the swamp waters to attack, more undead were appearingthere wasnt a connection, was there?
She called on her energy reserves and pushed her will out; a soft sound sounded around the small team as Loriel felt her skin tingle slightly, confirming shed successfully called a magical barrier into place. She knew the other three would also feel that light warm tingle on their skin. The barrier would not last for ever, but it would stop them by subtly deflecting blows from being damaged while it lasted.
Na dinan sahlin! she hissed as she began swinging her staff in both hands. Andruil guide us! Each time the tip of the staff changed direction, a bolt of electricity darted from the crystal with a small hum and unerringly struck its target; the energy wasnt overly damaging, but it never missed, and she could stay back at range to do her attacking; she was using that minor advantage to mainly attack the undead archers she could see, if she didnt kill them shed certainly distract them enough to allow the others to get in closer and finish them off. She was also aware that Garret had drawn his daggers and was moving into the water to attack; these walking corpses were armed and hostile, but not particularly bright or quick, and she could see Garret was easily able to position himself to do damage. But she also noticed two more corpses beginning to emerge near where Garret had stepped into the waters
Stay out of the water! she called out to the others as loudly as she dared. Stepping into the water seems to draw them! Even as she spoke, she sensed another arrow, then another, fly too close to her and get deflected by her barrierand she wished she knew more magic than just the couple of basic defensive spells she did, wished she wasnt as scared by her magic as she was. At least her attacks, such as they were, would never accidentally hit one of her companions, although the very-close proximity of magical energy might unsettle them a little. She was now aware of fourfive corpses near them, if only fleetingly aware. Right now, she was more focussed on doing what she could to stop the corpses from harming her companions.
gpt
The dull thump of a barrier going up, combined with the scnet of the forest suddenly coming over him let Disa know that whatever her failings might be, at least the elf was quick enough on the draw to get a spell off. Perhaps one of the only spells she knew, but it was a good one to have. The hunter drew his bow back hard, and drew a bead, sending an arrow into the swamp. The solid thwack of a hit filled the air, letting Disa know that whatever failings that the hunter had, aim wasn't one of them. The enemy archer staggered a moment, before a bolt of lightning struck it. The body jolted, adn came apart under that last hit, whatever integrity it had been holding onto giving way. Disa put that from his mind, stepping forward once more, letting the barrier take a hit for him, knowing it wouldn't last, so he may as well get use out of it.
The called words from the elf were not wrong, he knew the farther he went, the more likely it was that getting out would turn into a fighting withdrawal. It was likely already too late for that the more he thought about it. Garret was poised to leap in with him, but Disa called him short.
"Back! Stay with the mage! Make sure we're not flanked!" Disa roared, the long balde of his sword weaving through precisely controlled arcs to keep the swinging blades of his foes off of him. There was a stirring in the waters again, and he swore. More of them. The hunter was back towards Loriel now, Garret reluctantly stepping back to defend the two of them. Disa backed up slowly, feeling that tingle start to fade off of his body, letting him know the barrier was fading. Between the mage and the hunter, the other undead with a bow had been dealt with, adn Disa felt his feet hit dry, or as dry as this place ever got, land.
He was almost surrounded, the corpses moving up to take position around him, six of them. Garret moved to help, but came up short when he saw Disa's face. It wasn't worried. The big man was grinning.
Disa ducked under a blow, using that motion to turn, bending low and bringing his flatblade close to his hips. When he came back around, he extended the blade. The edge hit the upper leg of the first foe, before rising to cleave through the opposite hip. The next was sheared in half at the ribs, adn Disa controlled the rise of the blade from there, keeping it reasonably level. There was no ring of metal, only the humming sound that the blade gave off, a vibration that raised more questions than anything. Disa gave a half roar as he finished the motion, taking the last corpse int he head, shearing it in half deftly. Garret only stared at his sergeant, as the brief thunder of compabt faded into the mire.
"Sir? That was..." Garret started, but trailed off.
"Just corpses Garret, not particularly dangerous if you keep your head. Numbers can tell, but it's all in how you approach the fight." Disa replied, homing his flatblade onto his back.
"Where did you learn to do that?"
"My people. Some skirmishes with the knife ears taught me a few tricks. That one I picked up from a dwarf back in the Blight." Garret didn't answer, the implications of it weighing on him. He had suspected his sergeant had been active during the Blight, but to hear it confirmed...there weren't a lot of people that had actively fought the Darkspawn in the Inquisition these days. After that display, more was the pity it seemed.
Disa stared at the Hunter.
"Tip them off like that again, and you and I will have a disagreement. THings like this don't rely on sight to find things. It's mostly by sound adn by feel. Disturbing the water will bring them down on us. The Spellbind figured that out a handful of seconds intot he fight, the hell is your excuse?" Disa challenged. The hunter looked away. Disa turned his gaze to Loriel. "Nice to see you're not completely useless knife-ear. Everyone get back in position. We're moving on."
human
Any feeling of pride or satisfaction Loriel might have gained from the fight faded rapidly as Disa spoke. Firstly about the casual way in which he spoke of fighting against her people, although it was not such a surprise; she knew her clan had fought with Chasind before, and while the Chasind were very capable warriors when they closed to melee, they werent capable of matching the Dalish archers. There was also the way he referred to her in the third person, as if she wasnt there, and that he seemed determined to belittle her at every opportunity. And to top it off, his effort at complimenting her efforts wasbarely an acknowledgement that shed contributed. She felt her hackles rise again. It was sorely tempting to not include him the next time she threw a barrier up, to make him value her more.
She hadnt disgraced herself in the fight by any means. While she could not claim any kills for herself well, maybe one - she had done a better than fair job of keeping the attention of the corpses scattered, and shed also done a fair job of combatting the undead archers with her staff. Shed get better, she knew, and she might even unlock more magical power within her. But there was no way shed remain with this group, if she could at all avoid it. Harding could be convinced to move her to another unit.
The elven girl could have fired back at Disa any number of ways, given how the man seemed to delight in insulting her every chance he got. She could feel the rage slowly boil within, and the feeling dredged up a memoryfeeling helpless, alone, cast-outthe humans dont want me near their villagethey cannot look past the ears to see the hungry and frightened girlthey start yelling at me, telling me to go, to leave, Im not welcomecalling me knife-ear, scum, baby-snatcherhot anger boils, my leg suddenly feels warm, my hand is surrounded by fire but it doesnt hurt methe humans are suddenly very quiet and fearfula memory of a less-enjoyable time but then, most of her memories were of less-enjoyable times. These days, the less-enjoyable memories outweighed the enjoyable ones.
She kept her anger to herself, knowing that rising to his bait would achieve nothing for her. It wouldnt change his mind about her, and would only add to her frustration at his determination to put her down, to refuse to see her worth. No, shed see her time with this group then move on at the first opportunity after they got back to camp. She adjusted her grip on her staff and stood up straight. She noticed Garret didnt seem to know what to make of the apparently dislike the sergeant had for the young mage. Loriel felt shed not enjoy leaving Garret behind.
My name, she hissed at Disa as she stalked towards him before taking her position at the rear of the group, isLoriel. Remember that,shem. There was nothing else to say, and the group started to make their way further into the Mire. If Disa made any comment, gave any reaction, to her hissed words just now, Loriel didnt notice. She was busy keeping the great oaf out of her mind.
gpt
Disa heard her talking to him, but it wasn't important. If it was, he had no doubt that one of the others would have brought it to his attention shortly after it had been spoken. But they ahd to keep ont he move. He paused beside one of the low, crumbling walls that showed up now and then along the road, adn shuffled one of the rock piles, making a trail sign in the way of his people. He'd showed these signs to most of the other scouts, especially to Harding. No sense in having ways to leave information for anyone else if they couldn't read the signs. Once he'd finished that, he rose and moved down the road.
Disa spread his arms, hands tilted to show his desire for them to spread out. WHile it made it hard to have more than one person covered by a barrier at a time, it would lessen the odds of them being seen if they weren't a group. The hunter moved off to the right. Garret moved right, but still kept somewhat close to Loriel. He seemed to be taking the role of keeping her somewhat safe onto himself. Had Disa noticed, Garret wasn't sure, and was equally uncertain if their sergeant would care or not. There were more corpses out there, Garret could see them, and if he could, he was sure that Loriel could too. The dead stumbled about int he waters, seeking something to fight, something to kill. The scouts did not seem eager to oblige them.
The farther forward they went, the more Disa seemed to be able to make out a glow in the distance. He held up a hand, and then gestured, drawing the group back to him. There was nothing near them that seemed to be dangerous for the moment, so it seemed like this was the time to do it.
"Okay team. Not a lot of things will leave a glow like that this far in this rain. It's either powerful magic...or we might have just found a rift." Disa said calmly. "So, I'm asking for opinions here. Do we try and skirt it, or just go right through and hope for the best?"
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Loriel watched curiously as Disa arranged piles of rocks as they travelled. She knew the Chasind did that, of course left piles of rocks along trails, organised in such a way as to impart information to those who knew how to read them. She reasoned that there would be some in Hardings scouting party who knew how to read such signs, but Loriel wasnt one of them. If it had been Disa who had imparted the knowledge of how to read the trail signs, shed never find out how from him.
As the group spread out, she found herself working more closely with Garret. The scout had seemed to decide to be a kind-of protector to her, or something like that, and she was thankful that at least one of their little party seemed to find some value in her. Shed never say anything of course, not now doing so might deflate what he was doing, might give him cause to reconsider. She felt it was better to let his role go unmentioned, lest it cause tension. Disa, if hed noticed, didnt seem to care, or would probably be happy the task hadnt fallen to him. She had seen a few walking corpses shuffling aimlessly through the swamp a short distance away from them close enough to be seen, but far enough that they didnt appear to notice the scouting party. Loriel was very aware of how short she was on offensive magic, and didnt relish the idea of another fight where her contribution was limited to support.
The glow they approached, thoughLoriel could sense the ebb and flow from it. Her connection to magic, to the Fadethis small greenish-glow drew on the mage, although not in any way that was harmful to her or might compromise her. She knew it to be a rift such as what was known to be at the Temple of Sacred Ashes, but shed never seen one before now. So far as she could see, it was just the four of them around the glow any corpses were further off, as if they chose to stay away from this tear in the Veil. As Disa spoke, everyone else stood backbut Loriel stepped forwards a little, as if wanting to get to know this enigma.
Itsa rift, the elven mage offered quietly as her footsteps pulled her a little closer. Her head tilted to one side slightly, her brow furrowing as she focussed. Itits not properly formed. Its thin, threadbare if you like, maybewaiting to be disturbed so it can tear properly. The Veil hasbeen weakened here, but not as badly as in other areas. She paused, let her will drift out towards the glowing mass, the rain dripping off the tip of her small nose as she listened to her will, her damp hair matted and clinging to the sides of her delicate face. I cansenseother beings, wanting to get throughI cannot say what they are, or what their intentions are. I can only know that theyre there.
She turned, putting her back to the apparition, her lithe form faintly silhouetted by the soft glow, her staff in hand and the blade planted firmly in the ground. I recommend we avoid getting closer to it, lest we accidentally set it off, she offered, fully expecting Disa to chide her or denigrate her or ignore her.
Garret, not having a clue what the girl was talking about, nodded his agreement. Im all for avoiding it, if it means we dont disturb it, he offered. He was trying hard to not appear to side with Loriel in case doing so annoyed Disa, but at the same time he didnt particularly want to go near things that might summon demons and spirits. Perhaps Loriel is right, Disa after all, she was right about the corpses and the water.
gpt
Disa listened as the elf spoke about the Veil, things remaining close to it, and all of the mage mage babble that he'd expected to hear. Garret, a Maker fearing man if there ever was one, agreed with her, making a fair point about the corpses. The hunter snorted.
"As did Disa. As did I, once they started after us. A slow gong farmer could have figured that out." He sneered. Disa fixed him with an impassive stare.
"Well, that doesn't speak well for you, does it?" The Chasind asked. The hunter flushed, some anger, and more than a small amount of disappointment in his own error. He'd thought himself the equal to any in this company, but so far the Efl had been showing more use than he was, adn that was something he wasn't prepared to bear in the long term.
"We swing wide." Disa said with finality.
"But sir!" The hunter started, but Disa cut him off.
"Have you any knowledge of the Veil, other what teh Chantry tells you?" He asked. When the hunter didn't answer, Disa continued. "Have whatever issue you want with the elf, for her being a knife ear, or a spellbind, but she's been Harrowed. She's beenthroughthe Veil. So until someone else comes along with more information on it than she has, we'll be taking her advice into consideration." Garret nodded at the words. Still not friendly, but they weren't dismissive of Loriel's experience either. Disa resumed speaking. "Just so long as she can keep it short and not drown us in robe babbling. Let's get moving again." He turned and started off again.
THey gave the rift a wide berth once it was in sight, the rippling and otherworldly glowing casting a wide array of light along the ground. Nothing was around it, not the dead, not demons, nothing. Disa started to wonder if it might have been easier to just pass by it, but that wasn't something he wanted to entertain right now. He needed to keep everyone moving quickly. The land spread out, widening out on either side. They could keep going straight, or change direction. He didn't hesitate, but turned them to the east. Penetrating deeply into unknown territory was all fine and good, right up until they were cut off or flanked by things that came from areas off to the flanks that hadn't been properly scouted or investigated.
Great slabs of stone rose out of the ground, making a natural wall that were impressive to say the least. There was the thought of trying to send the mage or the hunter up those rocks, but the more Disa thought about it, the more it seemed like a bad idea. Anyone up there would present a fine target for the bow armed foes they might face. The progress was slow, methodical, careful, and from the way teh temperature was starting to fall, Disa had every thought that the days was waning fast. They came to a wider area, sprad out nicely, adn Disa had the thought that stopping might not be bad. From the look of it, it was also very likely that a forward support camp might be able to be established here, once it was deemed properly secure. Int he meantime...
"Make something of camp here. We'll stop here for food, some rest, and get moving again soon enough." Disa ordered.
human
Fenedhisthis team was so frustrating to work with! Loriel hadnt expected much from the other hunter whose name she still didnt know but Disas acceptance of her suggestion was so filled with disdain for the suggestions speaker that he may as well have just openly insulted her. Which he just had. Garret, she noticed out of the corner of her eye, at least looked slightly uncomfortable with the bile being levelled at the young mage by the other two in their group, although the scout didnt say anything that might jeopardise his own position in the little party. Small mercies, she supposed.
As they swung wide of the pseudo-rift, Loriel felt her will drawn to it slightly. She could feel the weakening of the Veil, could feel the presence of other beings beyond itat least that feeling faded as they put distance between themselves and it, and finally she felt nothing at all from it. She was curious to note that she was more aware of its presence after theyd encountered it than she had been before they knew it was there as if her eyes drew her will to it. She was happy to note that her thought had played out; by avoiding the rift, they didnt encounter anything that might spawn from it. They somehow also managed to avoid further encounters with walking corpses, for which Loriel was grateful she had no desire to get into another fight, although she also recognised knew that fighting was going to be inevitable.
She was very aware of her annoyance slowly turning to anger as they moved along the semi-road. Garret seemed aware of it and gave her space; he didnt attempt to engage her in conversation, possibly out of a desire to not have her anger spill out in the form of hostile magic. That was fine by Loriel she was content to stew in silence, to try and work her annoyances out without the need to resort to outburst of any kind. But it wasnt working, she knew that much: instead of working her annoyance down to a more-manageable level, she instead felt it grow. Every time she thought of Disa or the other hunter, she heard their insults, their dismissiveness towards her, she felt their disdain for her as both an elf and a mage, she knew in their eyes she was a lesser person and always would beshe could feel the fire slowly burn within her. She had to find a way to contain her anger before it became dangerous.
When they made camp, Loriel kept out of the way for the most part. She wasnt skilled in the tricks of making camp. She knew the theory of many things, but not the practice. Shed spent all of her life, before the last few weeks, in a circle tower, and her outdoors experience was very limited at best. Still, she watched the hunter slowly build a fire-pit with damp wood and struggle to light it; she amused herself by sending a touch of mana towards the carefully-constructed pile of sticks and twigs, causing the tinder to spark and light with a small flame. The hunter didnt seem to appreciate her assistance, going by the sneer on his face, but she didnt care: he was going to hate her anyway, so she may as well get something out of it. The amusement was short-lived, though, as it faded to be replaced by that annoyanceno, angershe felt when reflecting who shed been teamed up with. She decided to have a chat with Disa, who looked to be visually inspecting their surroundings, as if trying to determine what lay before them.
I get it, she opened in a low voice, her annoyance obvious in both her posture and tone. You dont like me. You have no regard for me as a mage, and less because Im Dalish. If its any consolation, I dont like you either. As soon as we get back Im going to tell Harding to take me off thisteam. I want no part of you or your attitudes. To an observer, she might have looked comical, standing next to Disa: he towered over her, was more solidly-built than her, his sword was almost as tall as she was, her robe was soaked and clinging limply to her frame, her hair was dangling wetly around her face and shouldersthere was no way shed be considered a threat to him. She didnt care. All she knew, as she brought up a hand to remove the water droplets from her delicate face, was the anger and frustration she wasnt able to get out of her system.
Garret looked quizzically at the two as they talked. He was content, for his own part, to stay out of it as much as he could, and chose to at least act as though he was looking for possible food sourcesin the Mire, there didnt seem to be too many options. He knew Loriel was getting increasingly frustrated, it didnt take a genius to work that out; but he was again amazed that shed dare to confront Disa directly over itor at least, he assumed she was. He doubted Disa would do anything directly to the young mage, as that would look bad, but still He didnt know. Best to do his job and stay out of a direct confrontation with the sergeant. He offered a small prayer to the Maker that Loriel could find something to prove her worth beyond any doubt Disa might concoct.
gpt
Disa set about quickly pitching a tent. It had been rolled tightly, and the material was well oiled and treated. It had been with him since he'd left the Korcari Wilds, adn that meant that it was used to exactly this sort of weather. His only regret was that he was so close to the ground, but there was nothing for that. No way to raise any kind of platform or the like safely or practically. Besides, as close as this place was to the WEilds, it wasn't home. Not really. He saw the hunter struggling with the fire, and Disa actually smiled. With the dampness of the wood, there was no way he'd manage to get it to-
He froze as there was a minor surge of magic in the site, and the fire flared to life, the wood forcibly drying under the influence of hte magic, the flame not large, but it was steady, and burning. More than he'd expected really. The darkness and the rain was going to keep the smoke well concealed at this point, and they could use some of the stones nearby to build an appropriate fire pit to keep the light down from the flames. Disa would leave that to Garret adn the Hunter, Garret at least he trusted to know what he was doing in that regard. Disa took better stock of hte area, sitting under a low awning of his tent to scribe what they'd found thus far onto his map. As Loriel started heading for him, he stowed the map, adn stood up, not wanting to be on the ground when she spoke. It was a matter of respect to him actually.
Disa listened to her words, and shook his head slowly. He let out a sigh.
"No elf, you reallydon'tget it." He said flatly. "First of all. When you make your case to Hardin, I've no doubt she'll oblige you and pull you off the team. And then right out of the Scouting units completely. I imagine there's a nice warm support job in Haven for a mage of your skill set. Why you were assigned to field operations, I don't know. Either Harding just wanted mages on her teams, or we're just that short on people. But if it were up to me, you wouldn't be in the field without another two months of hard training, training that wouldn't allow the use of your magics at all. But it wasn't." he let that sink a moment before he continued speaking.
"Secondly, I had specifically requested a soldier for my team, one of the veterans that had yet to be assigned. Instead I got a Robe that is green as grass. You might see the difference there, and why gettign stuck with you assigned here would be an annoyance to me." He shook his head at that, the assignment still rankled him, but he had a few other thigns that needed saying. "And do you really think rushing to Harding to complain that the people you're working are unpleasant to you would gain you much traction? This isn't a Dalish patrol, where they send friends and family together. You joined an army girl, what youwantis no longer important. What isexpectedof you, that is what matters.Halam'shivanasis all that remains for one such as you right now." Teh elven words still flowed from his mouth, accented, yes, but enunciated precisely. It wasn't something that Disa was simply throwing out, he seemed to know the language well enough.
"That anger you hold onto?Ma banal las halamshir var vhenwith it. Anger without purpose is just noise and distraction. Find something to accomplish with that anger, and you'll be better off. The fire is a fine thing, we could all use a hot meal this night. Now pitch a tent and settle in Spellbind. You'll need the rest." Disa told her, turning away from her, seeing that Garret was scrupulously not getting involved, helping the Hunter build a fire pit with higher than average walls made out of the scattered stone fromt eh clearing. It would keep the light hidden from the approach they'd taken, and their backs were to a rock bluff. It was as safe as they could make it, and the fire was growing steadily as the hunter tried to get it built up enough to actually cook something on.
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All that should matter to her was duty? Her anger did not benefit their people? He might be a veteran soldier, but she was not. He might think hed had it tough, fighting during the Blight, but her life hadnt been a bed of roses, either. And just who was he referring to when he said their people? The Dalish benefitted greatly from their anger and the caution they extracted from it, and there was no way shed accept him including himself amongst her people. She knew shed have to try and keep her anger under control as much as possible; if she didnt, Disa would pick up on it and press her further, deliberately fuel the anger at every turn.
People like you are thereasonthere still exists anger between my people and yours, he hissed, deliberately putting the infection on the difference between them. Hed probably ignore it. Youre not the only one here who had a bad time during the Blight. While you were fighting, I was girl of nine hiding in fear in a tower filled with abominations, just trying to stay alive. She paused, drew in a slow breath in some vain attempt to calm her highly-agitated nerves.Dirthara-ma. Tel garas solasan.She didnt wait for a response from him; instead she turned sharply on her heel and strode away from him.
She didnt have a tent to pitch for herself; her entire kit, such as it was, consisted of her staff, her clothes, a couple of lyrium potions, and a couple of bags of trail rations. She didnt have the strength to carry much more. She knew the drizzle would continue to keep her cold and wet, and that her health would likely suffer for it in the long term, but right now there was little else she could do. Her feet carried her away from the camp a short distance not so far that she couldnt be seen, but far enough that the camp was no longer foremost in her mind. She became aware, after a few seconds, that Garret had stepped to be next to her, if a few paces away.
He thinks I had it easy, she murmured, the anger only restrained for the moment.
Im not sure thats entirely accurate, Loriel, Garret attempted soothingly. He had no idea if it would help, but he knew he had to try.
For a moment, the young elf didnt respond. Her eyes had found a lone walking corpse a short distance away, aimlessly wandering a path that would bring it nowhere near them. I was cast out of my clan when I was eight, Garret, she offered quietly. I was one more wielder of magic than the clan could bear, so they cast me out. Templars found me and took me to the Fereldan tower a few weeks later. I was there, in the Circle Tower, during the Blight, a girl of nine hiding from abominations and demons, saved only by the Hero of Ferelden.
Garret nodded slowly but said nothing. Hed heard that the Tower had been hit hard during the Blight, but knew virtually nothing of the details. Hearing that shed been cast of her clan at such a young agehe started to get a small appreciation for the girl next to him.
Ive been locked up and shunned almost my whole life, she continued, her anger rising again, obvious in her voice as she spoke. Because Im a mage, because Im an elf, because Im Dalishpick one. Sometimes all three. Being always watched by Templars who are just looking for a reason to kill you because youmightbecome an abomination. Disa thinks hes done it hard? He doesnt know hardship. Thinking of their sergeant made her blood boil, and she felt the helpless rage swell suddenly within her.
Garret, having listened with some sympathy and realising that there was possibly a lot more to this girl than any of them knew, heard the anger as well, but he noticed something elseand it gave him pause. He took a nervous step away from the girl, and another UmmmLoriel? Your hand
Loriel looked down to see that her right hand, that had curled into a fist as shed spoken, was now encased in gentle flame. That only brought up another memory that caused her pain being shunned and reviled by humans who saw a scared and hungry little girl, but who wouldnt look past the girls ears.
I hate this magic! she cried out suddenly, her eyes brimming with tears of shame and rage.Dinanshiral!
In a sudden gesture what drove her to do so, Loriel would never know or understand she threw her hand in the direction of the walking corpse. She logically knew her hand wouldnt be parted from her body so easily, but the gesture was made, and at the same time she was willing the flame to be gone. In an instant, she recognised something different was happening she felt a shifting of mana, felt her will focus slightly towards the corpse, and then her hand was emptya split second later the corpse erupted in flame. If the corpse was capable of surprise, it might have been so, but it would still have been less surprised by the turn of events than Loriel. Still aflame, the corpse turned towards where Loriel was standing, began to shamble towards her, but didnt make more than a few steps before the mana-powered fire brought it down and consumed it.
Loriel looked, stunned, first at her hand, then at the still-smoking corpse, then back at her hand, her eyes wide with surprise and fear. Shed done it, she knewand she knewhow. She had no words for that moment.
Garret had no words, either, for what hed just witnessed. He knew mages could do such things, of course, but having actually seen a mage do it, especially such an act done apparently accidentallyhe was no longer sure whether to feel sympathetic towards Loriel or fearful of her. This was a mage who was not under control of the Chantry, and there were no Templars nearby if the young mage got out of hand Maybe he should let Disa know what had just happened
gpt
The small fire could not possibly make the sound that came to Disa's ears. The crackling of fire, real fire, came to him quickly. His head turned, seeing the smoke rising from a patch of water, likely showing that something had just gone up. Disa had his flatblade in his hand and began to stalk towards the location, the hunter falling into place near him. It didn't take more than a moment before Disa coudl see Garret standing a short distance from Loriel. Disa flicked his eyes from the elf tot he corpse, and then back.
"Sir!" Garret said as loud as he dared in this place. Disa didn't respond, leaving his gaze on Loriel.
"Seems you're learning something useful Mageling." He said to her, his voice flat. He turned to look at Garret. "You have first watch. Keep a close eye on the perimeter. Mageling, use his tent while he's on watch, you'll need the rest if you're going to start showing combat magic potential. Get to it people." Disa turned away, his flatblade going to the hooks on his back. THe hutner spoke as they started to walk away.
"Sir, she's dangerous now! A mage learning power on the fly, away from the circle!" The man protested.
"The cirlces have been dissolved, what do you expect? Besides, there is more to magic than what the Chant of Light teaches." Disa said, his voice carrying clearly across the distance, enough to make Garret cock his head in curiosity. He'd expected outrage, fear, even threats to Loriel. Not this kind of calm ambivalence.
"But sir-"
"I'm a Chasind Wilder. How many of our shamans do you think studied at the circle? And some of them were mroe than a match for the Templars that came to try and hunt them down. The world is a different place now. You are a soldier of the Inquisition now, and she is rapidly looking like she might be the same. So get your head in the game, and get used to having someone else be on fire support detail. We've a lot of ground to cover soon, get some rest." Disa strode farther away from the hunter to reach his tent. He drove his flatbalde intot he loamy soil, deep enough to leave it upright, but not so deep it'd be a problem to get free. There was still some caution in his actions. As Disa lay down to rest, he fought memories, thigns that he had been setting aside for a long time. Not the time to dwell on them. He let himself doze, gaingin what rest he could while leaving himself aware enough to respond to a shout alarm.
Garret hesitated beside Loriel. He could hear Disa, of all thigns, defending Loriel's magic. The sergeant was hard to pin down sometimes. But if Disa was taking it in stride, then how could he not?
"He might be wrong about a lot of thigns, but he's right about you needing some rest. So use my tent, someone might as well while I'm keeping an eye on things." He offered her with a little encouragement in his tone. He was uneasy about her finding her magic with this much anger. If she kept at it, where woudl she end up? What kind of mage would she be? And how long would she remain...herself? Garret had always been told that emotional control was the key to a mage keeping themselves safe, wild emotion might bring demons, and that would lead to an abomination. And Loriel had stated she'd been in a tower that had harboured many abominations before it was brought to safety by the Warden Commander of Ferelden. Did that mean she was more susceptible to it? Was she a greater risk? He didn't know. He had to think this through. But in the meantime, he knew that distancing himself from her wasn't going to be helpful. At least if anything remained of her mind when she turned, she might recall that he;d shown her nothing but kindness. It was a slender hope but it was all he had right now.
human
It was all happening too fastshe was having trouble keeping up with the rapid progression of events, events that were, in themselves, minor, but all linked together to provide a chain she couldnt keep up with.
The young mage was still trying to come to terms with the fact that shed actually produced a spell that would qualify as being useful in a fight. At the same time she realised that Garrets stance had becomealmost defensive, and she figured she knew why. Disa was offering something that might pass for approval at her new-found magic. The other hunter whose name she still didnt know was protesting at her magic and the lack of chantry or Templar support. Disa was almost defending her against the hunter. Disa was telling her to rest in Garrets tent, at least while Garret was on watch. Garret was trying to help her settlea little, at least. Would she have to take watch? Maybe she would. Disa hasnt said anything about that, but she had to accept he might ask her to do so.
She flicked a quick glance to Garret and nodded slightly.
Thank you, Garret, she replied sincerely. Would she have to move when Garrets time on watch ended? Would they share the tent? What would that mean if they did share his tent? None of that really mattered now. For now, Disa and the hunter had retreated to their own tents, leaving just her and Garret standing in the drizzling rain. But she knew she had to address his concerns, if she could.
Youre worried about what this means, my finding a strong spell, she offered quietly. The scout flushed faintly, but otherwise said nothing, and Loriel pushed on. Ive seen that look before a long time ago, true, but its not a look Im going to forget. Here I am, a slip of an elf-girl wielding magic that can kill quickly. How dangerous am I? How much more dangerous am I now that the circles are dissolved and Im free to choose my own path? Will I know if a demon tries to take me over? She gave a rueful smile as the two made their way towards what was, clearly, Garrets tent. The scout coughed softly.
Well, Iyes, butwell, you have to admit-
I know my own strength, Garret, she interrupted, her voice gentle yet firm. Ive been through The Harrowing. Few outside the Circles know what that means. If I tell youwould you like to know?
Garret nodded, not sure what any other response but yes might mean.
The Harrowing is a test that all mages face or at least used to, Loriel explained. Well, not all mages those who are deemed to be not strong enough to face it are made Tranquil instead. Those who undertake the Harrowing, though She paused, then sighed softly. We are sent into the Fade, just us and our will, to face and survive an encounter with a demon. If we fail, or take too long such that wemightfail, the Templars kill us. Surviving our Harrowing means that we faced a demon and defeated it, or at least prevented it from defeating us. That I survived means I had the strength to prevail against the demon I encountered. I can saythe entire ritual was a rather unpleasant experience, and knowing that failure meant death She sighed softly.
ThatI had no idea, Garret admitted quietly as he pulled the tent open and watched the young mage crawl in. Walking with Loriel was proving to be an eye-opening experience in ways he hadnt thought of...even though his fears hadnt been completely mollified but her explanation. Still, it was good to know that she at proved her strength. Maybe the Maker had put Loriel with their team to help them understand what it was that mages went through.
Loriel smiled faintly in response. Few do, she agreed, looking up at him from the floor of the tent. Thank you for your conversation and company, Garret. So faryoure the only person I know that I could consider a friend.
The scout smiled, a hint of embarrassment on his features. WellI just He really had no idea where he was going with his comment. Youre welcome, Loriel. He let the tent close, the material obscuring her from his sight. Get some rest.
I will, the slightly-muffled voice of the mage replied.
Garret walked away from the tent, found a small outcropping of rock not far from their camp. He climbed the rock and perched on it, the slightly-higher vantage point giving him a better view of their tents and his surroundingshed be able to see if something approached them. His mind drifted slightly, and he thought on what Loriel had told him. The Maker worked in strange ways, for sure. He believed fully in the Maker and the teachings of Andraste, buthad the Chantry of today gotten it right in their treatment of mages? Hearing Loriel speak, he wasnt so sure any more. Maybe this was all a test of faith by the Maker.
It suddenly occurred to him that he had no idea where he was going to sleep when he was relieved of watch.
gpt
Disa slept lightly, resting but not letting himself drift far enough away in mind to let himself be taken off guard if needed. It was a soldiers sleep. Barbarian he might be, he'd served in battle too many times to break this particular habit. He roused himself after four hours or so, and crawled from his tent, back into the constant drizzle. He plucked his flatbalde from the soil, and looked about the camp. The hunter was out, snoring away. He could make out the small form of Loriel in Garret's tent, so he kenw that at least his orders were being followed. He spot Garret up a rock bluff, and set about climbing up to meet him.
"Anything?" Disa asked as he crouched beside the other man. Garret nodded.
"Corpses in the water, they've stayed back though. Damndest thing though sir, I feel..." Garret trailed off.
"Like we're being watched." Disa finished.
"Yes sir. I can't say why, or if we are, by what. But I can't shake the feeling."
"You're not wrong. The signs are here and there. We're not alone out here."
"Demons?"
"No, nothing so simple Garret. Men. Men like me I should think. The Avvar have been known to frequent this region. There's good money that they're out there. Likely been waiting to see if we would leave someone on watch. If not they might have come after us as we rested."
"What do we do sir?" Garret asked, concerned now.
"The job. We move on. If the Gods are generous, we do it without interference. If they are not, we fight. Get some rest. Use my tent. I'll take the last of the watch. Let the others know where I am if they wake before we move out." Garret nodded, and started to climb down the bluff.
Disa shrugged his cloak around himself, making a smaller, harder to see target on the bluff, staring out intot he drizzle. Here and there he made out movement. The slow, erratic movement of the corpses. But now and then he saw the smooth, careful motions of something else. And what was more, there were more of them than he expected. Over the next few hours, he could tell they were getting closer. He nodded. No time to waste then.
Disa slid down the bluff, landing lightly, and ghosting to his tent. He covered Garret's mouth, waking the man with a start. Disa held a hand to his lips, shushing him.
"They're coming. Get the hunter up. We have to move, now." Disa whispered. Garret nodded, adn the two men split up. Disa hesitated at the tent Loriel was in. Waking a mage suddenly was a risky thing to do, but so wasnotwaking her in this circumstance. He leaned into the tent, heedless of how it might look as he clamped a hand on her mouth to keep her quiet. As she woke, he held the finger to his lips, the urge to stay quiet. He paused a moment, listening. He could hear faint steps coming closer. They only had minutes at most. "We have to go. Enemies coming. On your feet mageling, there's work to be done." He whispered to her after a moment, and then withdrew his hand, and got out of the tent. He'd ahve liked to break the tens down, salvage the supplies, but there just wasn't time. They might,mightbe abel to escape without a fight if they left quickly. But Disa wasn't going to dissapoint these men if they caught them. He'd make sure they got a fight.
human
How long had she slept? Loriel had no idea. She even felt it was a near-restful sleep, too, other than her body creaking a little as she began to stir. Her mind felt refreshed, mostly, but her body was aching lightly. She wasnt used to sleeping on the ground, even with a bedrollit was one more thing shed have to try and adjust to. She was slowly becoming aware of a presence near her, but her mind was still waking
and then a hand was clamped firmly over her mouth, starting her too quickly to full wakefulness. In a panic borne of fogginess she struggled to move, to sit, and a much-muffled squeal sounded from the back of her throatbut as her eyes adjusted to the dim light she recognised Disa, and it was apparently his hand over her mouth. He wasindicating for her to be silent. She understood, nodded slowly as her heart slowly settled. Then he spoke, a quiet voice, and her heart began pounding again as she digested his words. They were likely to be attacked, and soon. There was need for haste. She nodded again, and he removed his hand from her mouth. She reached over, took her staff in her hand, felt the grip suddenly become reassuring in her grasp. Fortunately, she travelled light. But what of their tents, their gear? Theyd not be leaving it all behind, surely?
Disa was gone, moving to find a hopeful safe path. Loriel was out of the tent a few seconds later. She had her staff in her hand and her bag of nuts in her pocketsthat was it. Garret was near her, gesturing towards Disa. The other hunter was already moving as well.
Come, Loriel, the man whispered hoarsely to the young mage. Quickly. We may not have much time. Leave the tents. If we have time and good fortune, well come back for them. The young mage nodded her understanding and followed the scout without word. Her hand tightly gripped the shaft of her staff as she followed the scout closely, trying to make her feet do as his did without a whole lot of success.
Were her eyes playing tricks on her? She was sure she could see shadows moving near them, as if they were closing on them, gaining on them. They werent corpses too smooth and precise in their movements. They looked likemen, perhaps, but there was no-one else out here, so theyd been told. Chasind, perhaps? Maybe not; if so, Disa would have seen the signs and acted accordingly. Her knowledge of the area was limited to books, not-always complete books at thatAvvar, maybe? The idea didnt sit well with her, although the Avvar were written to be reclusive and polite mostly.
Then she saw the glint of light on steel, a faint shimmer in the half-light of the very-early morningand she knew their time was up. Garret was aware, too, and the pair reacted almost simultaneously.
Attack! Loriel cried out, even as she was drawing on her will. It was possibly the stupidest thing she could have said at that moment, but it was the first word that came out of her mouth that might have held any meaning to this exact point in time. Then a faint thump sounded as her magical barrier settled on the foursome, surrounding them and protecting them for a short time. Garrets daggers were drawn as he took a defensive posture. It wasnt going to be enough, she knew, so she tried the only thing she could, even though she had no idea if it would actually work as she hoped. The soft, spongy ground grabbed at her boots as she shuffled her feet to get a better stance.
A small explosion of magical fire erupted in the place shed seen the glint of steel, catching two men in its blast, and the air was quickly permeated by the smell of burning flesh
gpt
They were going as fast as they could, Disa knew it. But it still rankled him at their pace. he knew that he could lose the pursuers, but not with the team with him. If nothing else, Loriel was not trained for this kind of thing. Frankly, Disa was more willing to trust her elven nature than he was to trust their archer. The man had made far too many mistakes on this mission. He heard Loriel shout, and then there was that familiar tingle as her barrier enfolded him.
Then came the blast of fire.
It was good to know that she hadn't fluked out making that spell work before. But now it was time to do what he could to help resolve this. If they were pursued by only a few then this might be over quickly. But Disa knew it wasn'ty likely. Avvar didn't usually engage without very good odds in their favour. The moment a form showed up int he mists, away from the fire, an arrow slammed into it. If nothing else, Disa would have to trust the aim of his archer.
"Cover me!" He roared, his flatblade swinging free in his hand, and he burst forward.
Disa was a large man, but when he charged over the soft ground he was all but a metallic clad blur, moving far faster than someone his size had any business going. He passed beside another form, adn his sword ripped up. Blood misted in the air, and the man came apart at the waist. Garret moved to help hi, but Disa barked out a word in his native laguage, one that he'd trained Garret for. It was a simple one.
Stay.
Garret knew that Disa was the forward party, and that it was going to be up to the rogue to keep Loriel casting. The glint of metal came in the mists, and Garret threw himself to one side, deftly avoiding the incoming throwing axes. Disa was far enough into the fight that Garret couldn't make him out clearly in the mists. All he could see were forms coming close to him, and the dull thump of his sword striking flesh. If they lived through this, Garret was asking why the sound never sounded metallic. There was a snapping sound, and he felt the breeze on his skin, showing that the barrier had fallen.
"Keep him protected!" Garret told Loriel, and stepped forward as a pair of figures passed the mist shrouded brawl to come at the others. Garret was a quick man, light on his feet, and dodged the swing of an axe and ripped a fast wound along the arm of his attacker, before dodging to the other and slashing a wound along his leg and another on his face, sending the man reeling. Another warrior came for him, and then he couldn't keep track of them properly, all he could do was keep them busy and stay alive.
Disa felt another blade glance off the barrier, adn he used that chance to take his foe's head off. The severed head spun in the air, and Disa seized the hair of the head and tossed it at the oncoming foes. He could see corpses around him, at least four, but there just seemed to be more coming all the time. The barrier fell from him, and he swung his forearm into the path of another blade aimed at his head. Sparks flew as the well forged Paragon's Luster of his armour defeated the swing of the much cruder iron of the attack. The light from those sparks gave him an instant to size up his foe, and get a better count. It was definitely Avvar, and there were more coming at them. Always there seemed more. He'd been controlled, he'd been mindful of his responsibilities. But now there only one choice left.
Disa let himself go.
Garret backed away from his next foe, drawing him away from Loriel, and the hunter repayed the move by sending an arrow intot he ear of the attacker. Garret heard a humming sound, like a weapon at speed, and saw a pair of split bodies fall to the ground near Disa. A bellowing roar split the air, loud and almost inhuman, like some kind of mixture of beast and man. Disa stood alone, his head thrown back, all but howling at the sky, and the Avvar paused in their advance. When Disa moved again, it was withotu any of the precise strikes that Garret had gotten used to seeing. There was somethign wild, something all together savage about his assault. Garret did know what he was seeing.
"Berserker...."
human
One of the burning forms never made it to their little group; the other got half-way, maybe. Loriel was watching, but only to pay attention enough to know where to attack next. At Disas roar, the magelings staff had started swinging, sending angry bolts of electricity humming towards her intended targets. Once again the staff proved a curious object capable of sending energy unerringly at the target designated by the wielder, never missing, never doing large amounts of damage, always doing damage enough to cause injuryand death, after a few successful strikes. It was times like this she liked being a mageuntil the battle came to her.
Garret was doing his best to stay near her, she knew. She was only vaguely aware of his proximity, in truth. She had a rough idea where their sergeant was, too; she had no idea where their hunter was. She could only guess the man had remained close to the rest of them. So far no Avvar had closed to her, but she knew that wouldnt remain that way for long. Sooner or later shed become a direct target.
She felt the pattern for the fire-spell Immolate, she knew the common name to be replenish in her mind, and she pushed her will out again, causing another explosion in the midst of a group of Avvar who were milling around between Disa and Garret, trying to position themselves to better attack. The burst of fire in their midst sent them into momentary disarray; she could tell from the cries of pain and discomfort from seared flesh and burning clothes. Butthey just didnt stop coming. She knew shed managed to drop a couple of Avvar herself, but there were always more of them.
Garret told her to cover Disa. She nodded that she would, but she couldnt just yet the pattern for the spell hadnt replenished in her mind. It took time for spell patterns to refresh in her mind after being expended, and that time wasnt fixed some patterns refreshed quicker than others. She also had to be mindful of how much she pushed her will and reserves; if she pushed too hard shed become exhausted, and then shed be no good to anyone. It was a curious relationship, that between mage and staff and will and Fade to Loriel, it seemed that while casting a spell expended a spell pattern and drew from her reserves of will, each use of her staff encouraged both pattern and will to replenish. No mage even pretended to fully understand how it worked, but no mage denied that it did.
She felt the pattern for the barrier spell finally replenish and she quickly drew on her will to refuel it. She could catch herself and Disa and Garret in its areabut she didnt know where the hunter was to know to include him. As she felt the tingle on her skin to let her know she was again protected, she had no idea whether the hunter was also protected. It was annoying that a barrier could ward off swords and spells and arrows, but not rain.
Theres so many! she called out as she sent another chain of energy bolts flying from her staff at an approaching Avvar warrior, dropping the man just before he could position himself to flank Garret. A few moments later and another burst of fire erupted near the rear of the Avvar ranks, causing another to yell in pain as his hide armour caught alight and began burning.
gpt
His faltblade held close to his body, Disa began a spin, getting his momentum up before letting the blade flick out into a wide swing. An Avvar screamed as his arm came off, and then went silent as Disa drove the pommel of his weapon into him, crushing his throat. An axe hammered into his back, the armour holding, but sending Disa staggering a step forward. With a feral snarl he rounded on hsi attacker. His wild swing missed, the blade hitting the loamy soil, and as his foe stepped in for another strike, Disa ripped the blade up. From the way teh sword had been hitting, the sound of it, it had seemed like it was a blunt blade. The way the front of the Avvar's skull came off cleanly, it was clear this was not the case. Disa dropped the blade down again, smashing through an attempt to parry his strike, killing another man.
As the blade was stuck fast in his kill, Disa knew, even in his state, that he'd not be able to bring it to bear on the next coming foe. He let go of the flatblade, and pulled the antler dagger he'd finished working on before they'd left on this mission, and tackled the man in a blind rush, a sword scraping along his side, slicing partly through the hide armour, and pricking along his skin. The dagger drove down, once, again, and a third time, each blaw a ragged hole in the chest of his foe. With a ragged roar he came up from the man, a blade about to land on hsi shoulder when that tingle of energy came, the barrier sliding the blade off of him, and Disa took the chance to slam the dagger into his foe's eye. The next attacker was far enough away that Disa took the chance to free his flatblade, and come around again.
Garret dodged around a man, daggers sliding along the unprotected area in the lower arm, and the other across the face of the man. He fell back, screaming, and Garret let him fall from his mind. He'd be dead in a few more moments from blood loss. Another arrow hammered into an oncoming Avvar, and Garret had to admit the hunter was doing his job well now. A pair of whickering axes came out of the fog, and a sharp cry came from top of the rock bluff. A form staggered, and then fell, rolling off of the rock and falling to the loamy ground. A bow was lying a few feet away, arrows scattered on the ground. He didn't move for a moment before a faint groan came from him. Garret grit his teeth, wanting to go to him, check on him, but there was little he could do even if he wasn't under threat.
Garret had to duck under a swing, coming up close to the man, and hammering a fast stab into the groin, leaving the man suddenly crumpled and bleeding to death. He ahd to admit, he'd never been this fast, never been this good in a fight. But he'd also never had to fight like this before, not against so many. Perhaps he'd just needed the chance to shine. He dodged three more strikes, sweeping low, and slashing off the kneecap of a man, grinning as he did it. He straightened, ready to go, feeling the barrier from Loriel around him. Just in time too as an axe came off of it, just before his face. The barrier flickered a moment, dissipating the force, and Garret moved in again. Dagger to arm, to hand, boot to leg, retreat. A fast exchange that left another man reeling back, and then things went wrong. A much larger man with a hammer appeared, and swung in faster than Garret could process. The hit took him from his feet, the barrier shattering under the blow. He wanted to shout for Loriel, call for a refreshment of the barrier, but he knew that wasn't going to happen. Not enough time, the barrier had barely been set up.
With a savage howl Disa came charging out of the mist, one hand sweepign forward, tossing all he held in it at the hammer wielder. Teh man staggered back, looking at the clutch of severed heads taht ahd hit him, and then went on the defensive as Disa attacked him. The flatblade kept coming in, battering off of hte haft of hte hammer, Disa not letting up for a moment. The hammer swept a blow to the side, and the two ment slammed into one another, shoulder to shoulder, eye to eye. They stayed there for an instant, locked, sizing one another up. The Avvar tried to headbutt Disa, but the Chasind jerked his head to one side, and clamped his teeth down on the mans ear. With a howl of pain, the Avvar tried to withdraw, and Disa rolled onto his back, kicking out with both legs, sending the man away from him. Disa spat out the now severed ear, and came on again.
Garret couldn't believe the way Disa was fighting, and more, had seemed to know that he had to come back to help defend him. Garret rolled away from a blow, but then felt a fist hammer into his face, dazing him for a moment. Pain, white hot and sharp came from his side, and Garret staggered, a spear withdrawing from his ribs. Another blow hit his leg, and a sword hit his stomach. Garret fell.
human
They were getting desperate, Loriel knew. The Avvar just kept coming. There was always one to take the place of one whod fallen, it seemed. Loriels staff kept swinging, sending bolts of electricity darting towards her target. Occasionally the skirmish-ground could really call it a battle-ground was bathed in a dull orange-yellow light as she managed to set another opponent alight. But she was getting weary not mentally, so much, but physically. She could feel it in her arms, the way her staff seemed to get heavier in her grasp each time she swung the tip in the direction of an Avvar warrior, the way her muscles sighed with relief when she lowered her staff to allow herself to let loose with her Immolate spell. But she kept going, for maybe the very lives of their group depended on her not failing.
By now the hunter must have fallen. She could no longer hear the twang of his bow, no longer noticed the way an Avvar jerk as an arrow thudded into his armour. She couldnt be certain, but she knew it had to be. She didnt allow herself to dwell on it, she couldnt afford to swell on it.
Then Garret fellheavily and badly.
Garret! the young elf cried out, even as she realised Disa was right there and unable to stop the scout from being taken down. She wanted to get to the man, to help him, to try and heal him, but she couldnt. Garret was on the other side of a wall of warring forms. Disa was there as well, fighting hard, somehow holding his own. She was cut off, and Disa was possibly the bigger threat at this time.
A well of rage and pain and frustration filled her.Elgarnan ma halam!she screamed in anger.Na dinan sahlin!She pushed her remaining will and energy out, and was surprised when the act of desperation yielded results: she felt a surge of energy flow from her staff through her slight frame, felt the energy and mana combine to fuel a new pattern she hadnt known was there, felt the energy release seemingly from her chest as a dozen bolts of electricity surged out of her and and raced towards the wall of Avvar. Three were struck, and two fell Loriel felt a small wave of satisfaction as she saw the forms slump. She recognised a new pattern of a spell had appeared in her mind Barrage, she instinctively knew the name of the spell pattern to be but she had no time to think more on it. Indeed, she had no time to think on anything.
As she readied her staff again to resume attacking, she felt, for the briefest moment, a sharp burst of pain as a heavy object thudded into the side of her headshe didnt know what it was, and conscious thought stopped almost immediately. She didnt feel her staff slip from her nerveless fingers, didnt feel herself dropping to her knees, didnt feel the wetness of the ground soak her robe as she toppled forwards and landed unceremoniously, didnt feel the wet grass on her face as she hit the ground. She didnt feel it when one of the Avvar the one whod hit her with nothing but a clenched fist, in fact roughly grabbed her and pulled her upright, brandishing her almost like she was a shield with one hand on her shoulder holding her steady and the around her neck as her head limply lolled forwardsand she didnt hear the guttural words that were delivered exactly as an order
gpt
Blow after blow sailed out, each one seeming to be faster than the one before it. Nicks were showing in the hammer haft, something that had the Avvar worried. He'd blocked axes without trouble, but this flatblade was working through his weapon. The man attacking him was barely recognizable as such, bursts on almost animal howling with eyes that blazed his rage and rancor, all of it poured into every blow. The Avvar had their own Berserkers, but not ones that fell this far into the battle madness.
A burst of magic nearby almost killed him.
Oh, not a single spark of power came towards him, but the flash made him look to the side, see the elf throwing her power into his kindred, killing more of them. So many lost on this errand, but it would all be worth it if they could-
The Avvar threw himself back, the sharpened tip of the flat blade kissing across his face, nearly taking out his eye. Had he been a second later, a touch slower, he'd have had his head in half. He hit the loam, rolling to get to his feet, when a shout rang out that halted the oncoming berserker.
"You hold! Hold or she dies now!" An Avvar shouted. Disa seemed to quiver a moment, like he was restraining himself from a leap forward. He'd had his foe, had him dead to rights. But here, this knife-eared spellbind was gettign caught and forcing him to...
To remember his duty.
He stood upright, his flatblade moving to a rest position. The Avvar he'd been fighting stood properly, and nodded.
"Disarm. You will come. Or we kill them all." The Avvar point to the other members of the team. Garret was shifting, looking to be in bad shape, and the Hunter moving even less.
"And if I do? You'll kill us later." Disa answered, barking back in the same language as the Avvar.
"Nay. No point in death. But you bear the eye." Disa looked at the emblem of the Inquisition that was on the shoulder of his armour. "We take you. Tell your people. And your Herald will come for you. And I kill him. Show the power of Korth!" He raised his hammer at the last word, adn his men chered, though raggedly. "Then you go. No profit in death."
"And you'll treat my wounded?"
"Nay. Men dying. Should hurry your Herald along. Else we kill you all now." Disa paused, knowing it was a gamble, but drove the point of his flatblade into the loam, and spread his arms wide.
"So be it."
As the Avvar came close, ready to claim the flatblade, Disa drove his armoured fist into his face, laying him out on the ground.
"If any of my people die for your pride, I swear that I will kill you for it, even if I have to crawl back from the Fade as a spirit to do it. Remember that when you lock us away." Disa spat at him. The Avvar roared in laughter.
"I like this man! Inquisition chose well with you!" The man stood up, a little wobbly on his feet. "What they call you?"
"Disa the Restless, of the clan Silverfire, Tribe of the Winter Moon, son of Asger and Ida." There was a murmur amongst the Avvar.
"Chasind!" Disa only nodded, adncouldn't help but wonder if there was recognition to his name among these men. But that was neither here nor there, their leader had taken the flatblade, and other lifted the wounded.
They were taken deeper into the Mire, Disa taking care to note where they were going. It might be helpful if they escaped to be abel to track back where they'd been. There was a keep, looking rather worse for wear, and brought to a small chamber. Disa was led in, the others dumped onto the stone floor. The door closed, locking loudly behind them. Disa moved to his companions. Garret was bad. THe hunter at least as much. Loriel looked to be out, but not wounded. And it was her she needed.
"Elf! Mageling! Loriel, wake, we need you here!" He hissed to her.
human
Cold. Hard. Wet. Her head hurt. Easier to stay still. Simpler to keep her eyes closed. Maybe it was all just a prank being played on her by fellow students; if it was, it wasn't a funny one. For all that First Enchanter Irving had preached that all mages were equal in the Circle, regardless of their origins, it wasn't always that way in practice. Even in the Circle Tower, humans were regarded with greater favour than elves by some of the instructors, and by more of the students. She supposed she had things a little less difficult than City Elves, perhaps, but she was still an elf, and elves would always be regarded as lesser beings by humans, regardless of circumstances. No, easier to lie on her back on this cold, hard surface than open her eyes and acknowledge her situation and surroundings.
A voice was speaking to her. She wasn't sure, at first, who the voice belonged to or what it was saying. It was like the voice was part of a dream, a not-very-nice dream. Maybe she'd open her eyes and discover she was back in the Circle, and that things she thought she remembered were, in fact, part of an unpleasant dream. That would be nice.
Wait...had that voice used her name? And it...sounded like Disa...the Disa she didn't like because of his attitude...why wasn't he part of that dream, too? She frowned, groaned softly, tried to roll onto her side, groaned again as aches and discomfort reminded her they were still present, slowly opened her eyes to find Disa kneeling next to her.
Damn...it wasn't a dream.
They were in a room of some kind - not large, dirty, poorly-kept, but dry. There was a closed door; she had to assume it was locked, that Disa might have tried it. She was lying on the floor, stone pavings intermingled with dirt and rock - that was the source of the cold and hard feelings she'd woken up to. Well, the cold was also due to her soaked robe clinging to her in a non-revealing way. Her head still hurt...she pressed a hand gently to the right side of her face, felt it gingerly. Nothing was broken, at least...but she'd have a nasty bruise tomorrow.
"My head hurts," she croaked quietly, her soprano-pitch voice gaining strength as she uttered the words. "Where...where are we?" It was largely a rhetorical question - she didn't reasonably expect Disa would be able to give her any firm or useful response. Her gaze, mainly focussed on the floor to this point, shifted to first focus on Disa before it swept around the room - which, from her current position of lying on her side, didn't reveal much. With another groan of discomfort she slowly pushed herself into a seating position. It was then that she saw...
"Garret...!" she breathed softly. She had to get to him, had to try and help him. She could also see the other man, the hunter, lying in an undignified heap next to Garret's crumpled form. Her arms and legs felt like they were made of iron, it was so hard to get her moving from the spot she'd been dumped on...
gpt
Disa nodded as Loriel started to move. It was going to take her a moment, he knew, to get her bearings properly. He'd been knocked out, choked out, and otherwise rendered unconcious more times than he could count, and that was all before he'd left the Wilds. He only hoped it didn't scramble her magic too badly. But she was moving. And that meant Disa needed to do what he could.
He crossed to Garret, making sure he was laid out as best he could.
"His side, fairly deep. His leg is a mess, but it's the gut wound you need to handle. It might be going bad from the hit. I'll check the other." Disa told Loriel as she made her way over. He stood, adn made good on his words.
The hunter was in bad shape, worse than he'd thought. Throwing axes left a bad wound, Disa had seen enough of them to know that these were worse than usual. Likely made that way when he'd fallen from the rock. he checked the first, driven deep into the hunter, looking like it had broken through ribs to do it. The other was in his shoulder, looking as though it might have broken a collarbone. Disa sighed. With taht kind of wound, it wasn't likely the hunter would be able to properly draw a bow for a long time, if ever. Still, Disa laid him out, looked around hte room, adn came up short on most cases for thigns that they coudl use to try and help this. Removing the axes woudl make the blood loss much more pronounced, so it was safest to leave them in for the moment. Loriel might be able to help more when she was done with Garret. All he could do now was wait.
Garret woker with a start, and he jerked at the sudden pain that greeted him. He looked to start to roll over, only to find Disa had appeared, pressing him down onto the floor.
"Garret! Garret, easy. You're hurt. And yes it's bad. Now lie still, let the mage do her work." Disa was speaking over him. Garret didn't try to fight him now, the pain of waking to the wounds was enough to make him want to pass out again. "And stay with us. As long as you're awake, we know you're alive."
human
It was only when Disa drew her attention to the hunter that Loriel saw how bad he was, saw the axes still buried in his chestand she visibly paled. Theyd left the axes in him? How was the man still alive? She could see the shallow rising and falling of the mans chest as she drew nearer to the two injured men, she could hear the ragged breathing from him She knelt next to the hunter first, took in his situation, his injuries, the presence of the weapons that had felled him, and she instinctively knew it wasnt going to end well for the man. Still, she tried. Disa would probably find fault with her if she didnt.
She placed a hand on the mans chest, doing her best to ignore the sticky, slowly-pulsing blood that seeped between her slender fingers. She could see that the axe in his chest was deep, slightly off to one side of center, knew that it at least hadnt ruined his heart the axe was on the wrong side of his body for that. Hed lost a lot of blood, though, she knew just from how pale he was, how soaked his clothes were under the light armour. The rise and fall of his chest was irregular, jerky, shallowshe didnt even try to save him. Between the axe in his chest and the axe in his opposite shoulder, Loriel knew shed at best be able to make the man comfortable. There was too much damage even for healing magic to repair. If shed been able to get to him sooner, perhaps she could have saved him, but now
She turned her head to look at Disa; she knew her expression said what her words were about to. I cant help him, Disa, she said softly. The best I can do is ease his pain, but it wont delay the inevitable. Hes already dead; his body just hasnt realised it, yet. She didnt wait for discussion from the sergeant; instead she wiped her blood-stained hands on her hips, staining her robe, and shuffled around to face Garret.
The scout was in better shape than the hunter, at least, but not by much. Garret had suffered a puncture wound to his chest, and a slash probably from a sword to both his abdomen and his leg. The man might be able to be saved. The slash to the leg looked deep, but it would heal in time if she could save the man. The chest wound was a puncture, so probably hadnt done anything significant if it had, Garret would be dead by now. The slash to the stomach didnt look bad, at least, so there was hope for the scout. He wasnt bleeding as heavily as the hunter had been. She paused, then reached up inside her robe and, with a forceful jerk, and another, tore a strip from her garment and pressed it to his stomach.
Youve got to stay with me, Garret, she began conversationally, the soft tremor in her voice betraying her worry, as she tried to stem the oozing blood. Right now, youre the only person I could call a friend. You dont want me to be alone, do you? She focussed her will, drew on her energy, felt the soft warmth of gentle magic flow from her hands into the scouts battered body.
Garrets eyes fluttered as he recognised Loriels voice. The man knew the elf was trying to help, but still, the hesitationmagic He tried to smile, ended up coughing quietly. Do my best, Loriel.
You did just fine, Garret, she replied quietly as she forced a smile to her lips. Tell me a bit about yourself; after all, you already know a little about me. Where did you grow up?
Alittle villagefew days westof Redcliffe, Garret replied slowly. Foot of the Frostbacks. Dont know how wesurvived the Blight. Seemed like itmissed us. Small farmingvillage
What about your family, Garret? she asked sincerely. She could feel the magic working to fix the injury, knew she was having some measure of success. Would it be enough? Maybe. She might be able to give him enough time to get him back to Haven for proper care. Even with the magic gently flowing from her hands to his wounded frame, her hands were working to try and help, pressing firmly on the gash to help the magic do its work.
Mumdadthree brothers, all older, the scout murmured. Farmers. I never was verygood at it.
Why join the Inquisiton, then?
Thought Iddo some good, he admitted. Try and help peoplepeople like you. Fight for them, fightto defend them. No-one else seems tobe doing it.
She flushed slightly, and a small, warm smile played over her lips. She didnt know if hed see it. Ive seen you fight, she noted teasingly. You shouldve stuck to farming. Whered you learn to fight, anyway?
Thathurts, Garret protested, although it was weak, and Loriel could see in his face he wasnt being serious in his protest. Three brothersnot always peaceful. Plusbandits, looters afterthe Blight. I was always good atbeing stealthy. It justmade sense.
Loriel nodded her understanding as she felt the magic slowly withdraw. She pulled her hands away and could see that the injury to his stomach had been mostly healed. The chest wound, the leg woundnot so much. But the young mage could see that Garret looked a bit healthier now than he had earlier. Maybe shed get the opportunity to help again a little later. She looked up at Disa, whod apparently taken a few steps back to let the mage do her stuff, her bloodied hands hanging at her sides. Even Disa would surely be able to see how taxing the healing had been on the young mage.
I think hell be okay, she told the sergeant. For now, at least. In a little while I can try again, look after that wound in his chest. She reached up inside her robe again, jerked another strip of her garment away, pressed the strip to the scouts chest where the wound was. In her heart she wasnt so sure that Garret would make it, but shed be damned before Mythal if she didnt try to help the man who was, arguably, her only real friend in the world. Ill stay with him, for now.
gpt
Disa nodded at Loriel's words. He had seen great acts of healing through magic. The Blight had shown some truly powerful mages working for their aid, and he'd seen dozens of men on the edge of death back on their feet in a moment from some spells.
But Loriel was not a mage on that level.
Disa had harboured a faint hope that perhaps with the way her magic had been working, progressing in fits and starts, mayhaps her healing might have done the same.
But it was only just that. A fools hope.
The hunter stirred, his eyes fluttering open, and Disa shifted so that the prone man would be able to see him.
"How...bad am I?" He gasped out. Disa rest a hand on his collarbone, a gentle pressure.
"Don't try to move." Disa warned.
"That...that good, eh?" The hunter managed a faint smile. "I'm...I-" The man coughed, and Disa shook his head.
"Don't try to talk."
"Not...not much time. "I...I'm sorry. Screwed up. Cost us." The man gasped. Disa hesitated, but then shook his head.
"Mistakes were made. You stood with us when it mattered. I'll see to it that you're honoured. Who do I inform of your passing?"
"Wife. Cottage. North of Redcliffe. They...know me in town."
"I'll go myself. She'll know you fell with honour." Disa lifted his hand, clasping it firmly, an oath to a dying man. "Svefn heilsa, vinr. May you Maker take you to his side, adn dwell with him in the light for all time." As Disa spoke, he gently slid the shallower of the two axes free from the hunter. The man was paying attention to his sergeant, and not the wound, adn didn't react as the iron came free. Disa made a cut on the man, opening the artery in his neck. The blood flowed quickly, and the hunter slumped. A moment later his breathing stilled, and Disa closed the eye of the man.
Standing up, Disa approached Garret and Loriel.
"I see you're having better luck here. Do what you can for him. We've lost enough so far." Disa observed dryly. He handed the small throwing axe to Loriel. "If you need more cloth for bandages, you might find it easier to cut it free than rip it." He offered by way of advice, letting himself sit near Garret. If he was going to lose another man, the least he could do was be there for him when it happened.
human
Without a word, Loriel took the axe from Disa. She knew just knew that Disa would probably blame her for the death of the hunter. Part of her wanted to rail and scream at the man, but that would get her nowhere. Another part of her wanted to give in to the feelings of inadequacy she was harbouring, but that would also get her nowhere. She shuffled around for a moment so that she was again facing the hunter, could easily see that the man was dead if the nick in the mans neck hadnt killed him, the loss of blood from the removed axe would have. She respectfully bowed her head to the dead hunter.
I never knew you, but I still feel your loss. Rest easy.FalonDin ma ghilana Bellanarisan, she offered quietly. She said nothing more, instead keeping her head bowed for a few moments, and keeping her mouth closed for the same. A couple of minutes later she lifted her head and returned her attention and her facing to Garret.
She had to do better for this man, she knew. She didnt want to him go as the hunter had. She didnt want him to go at all. She had no special feelings for Garret that would be incredibly stupid and naive of her if she did beyond friendship, but that didnt mean she wanted him to go. If Garret died, itd just be herself and Disa, and there was no way Disa could be anything else but terrible company for her. She took a deep breath and pulled her will again, summoning the energy to again fuel the pattern of healing magic within her. This time she was going to focus on the hole in his chest his leg would heal in time on its own, if necessary.
Garrets eyes fluttered as he felt the elven girls hands on his chest. Thought youd left...me, Loriel, he whispered.
Youre in my care, such as it is, Loriel replied softly as she felt the warmth of healing magic flow through her hands again. Im not going to give up on you.
Garret managed a rueful smirk. As carersgo, Ive had worsethan you, he noted wryly. At least youyoure trying.
An embarrassed smile flashed over the elven girls lips. WellI cant let you die, can I? Image how much hell Disa would give me if you did. It was delivered as a teasing comment, and somehow Garret seemed to pick up on that.
In truth, Garret wasnt sure how to respond to that. He knew Loriel wasnt being at least, she didnt seem to be nasty or negative with her comment, but a part of him suspected she was right in some manner. Hes not thatthat bad, Loriel, he murmured in reply, not knowing whether Disa would hear them. Give him a chance.
Loriel chose to not respond to the comment. Garret might be right about Disa, but her own, rather limited, experience with the sergeant didnt lend itself to a glowing reference. Instead she focused on her will, on channelling the magical energy she was harnessing into the mans bodyshe was trying to focus on his wounds, his injuriesshe was pushing herself.
Loriel?
The question drew her out of her focus. Yes, Garret?
Why did you join the Inquisition? Garret was genuinely curious, she could see that. It was a darned good question, too. It took her a few seconds of contemplation before she began her response.
Lack of real choice, I suppose, she offered finally. When the Circles held their vote for independence, I voted to remain. I didnt want to leave the safety of the Circle. For all that I disliked life stuck inside a Tower, it was home. But the Grand Enchanter let the motion to be independent stand, and I found myself stuck. It might not have been so bad if the Templars hadnt reacted as they did, but there was probably no other way they were going to respond. Not all Templars struck back, of course, just as not all mages rebelled, but I soon found myself in the open, an apostate, and a hostile Templar possibly around every corner I came to. So when I heard rumours of the Inquisition starting up, I made my way to seek it out. It alone seemed to offer some degree of sanctuary from the fighting; as you said, the Inquisition so far seems to be the only group trying to end it.
She paused to adjust the strip of cloth that was covering his chest, lifted it up briefly to look under it and was happy to see the wound was nearly closed as her magic did as she willed it. So there you have it. Not a very inspiring tale, Im sure, but its all Ive got.
Garret smiled faintly. He now had more colour in his cheeks than he had before. Its as good aa tale as any, he said simply.
Loriel nodded, then frowned slightly. The wound was resisting her somehow. She pushed her will, pushed her reserves of mana, felt the resistance finally give wayand she exhaled loudly from the effort. Then she slowly fell back onto her haunches, her own face pale from the effort. She patted the scouts shoulder gently. Rest, Garret. I think youll be okay, now.
Garret nodded, then closed his eyes. He certainly looked to be doing better. Loriel, looking more drawn and drained than she had earlier, turned a weary but satisfied expression on Disa.
I think hell make it, she advised the sergeant, her breathing heavy, as she dragged the back of her hand over her forehead to wipe some sweat away. Theres just the gash in his leg to go, but thats not bad. I think Ive properly patched up both injuries in his torso. I didnt see or feel anything out of the ordinary.
gpt
Disa listened. It was somewthing he found wasn't done as often. If they were not a part of a conversation, then a person just pretended to ignore all the sound that came from one. The Chasind never said anything in the open not meant to be heard by all. Loriel's tale was not uncommon, even for those that carried no magic. There was a certain safety in coming to the Inquisition, even if you were put back into service on the lines. Still, he found himself....dissapointed. Not surprised, what she said made sense, perfect sense really.
But there were so few people it seemed that had joined the Inquisition because it was what needed to be done, no other reasons.
When she approached him, DIsa nodded at her words.
"Assuming the Avvar don't have something on their weapons that we don't know about." He held up a hand as he finished speaking. "Not a criticism Mageling. Honest hope." He looked back at the fallen hunter, and just kept his gaze there for a moment before turning back to Loriel. "You know your triage. That's good. But I have to ask. Is there any chance of getting Garret back on his feet? Not fighting fit, but enough to move reasonably quickly?" Disa was running the plans in his head. The pair of throwing axes gave them a small chance. If Garret was on his feet,then they might be able to slip away...but Disa knew taht Loriel wasn't terribly gifted in moving silently, beyond what she might have learned from the Dalish. But Garret couldn't move as he was. If the situations were reversed between them, and Loriel was wounded, Disa knew he'd risk it, and try to go for assisstance, but as it was he had the exact wrong companion for the task.
human
Loriel clearly hadn't considered that the Avvar might have added a poison to their blades, and it showed on her face - why hadn't she thought of that? But, then...would poison really be useful in a place such as the Fallow Mire, where it seemed to rain more often than not? The rain might wash away any poison before it could be brought to bear. She was still learning, too - would her healing magic be capable of detecting poisons, and eliminating them? It was a question for a later date, though, not now. Disa had also just conceded that he wasn't telling her off for that one, so there was no need for her to push it - although she knew she'd have to bear it in mind for later instances...if therewerelater instances. Right now, Disa's query demanded her considered attention.
"I...I don't know," she admitted quietly, as she turned her head to look at the wounded scout. Her dark hair clung to her face and neck as her head turned, and the movement made her realise for the first time that her face ached badly from where she'd been struck earlier. She forced herself to not react to the discomfort, though...at least not beyond the stifled grunt that escaped her chest.
"He might be okay in a little while," she added after a few seconds of thought and consideration. "Depending on how soon you were thinking of doing...whatever it is you're thinking of that needs him to be able to move quickly. I can heal his injuries in time, but I would argue he'd still need rest. Injuries I can tend to, endurance I can't."
She turned her attention back to Disa, looked up at the man with an almost-apologetic expression. She was sure the man had little appreciation for her, and under the present circumstances she could hardly disagree with him. Several thoughts - and associated comments - ran through her head, but she dismissed them all. They would achieve nothing right now, if ever. "Probably not the answer you were hoping for, but that's the best I can offer right now. Sorry."
gpt
Disa sighed as she spoke. It was about what he'd been expecting if he was being honest. More powerful, or at least more specialized mages might have been able to do this, but Loriel was not the mage he needed right now. But she was teh mage he had right now, adn she'd kept Garret alive. She was better than the alternative.
"A rule that you should keep in mind. As long as you serve in my squad, don't apologize for an honest evaluation of your capabilities. Even if it's not what I want to hear. I'd rather know what can or cannot be done than a pleasing lie." He told her off-handedly. He shifted, pulling hte buckles free on his breastplate. He set the piece of armour down, and then pulled a few oilcloth wrapped bundles off of it. They were thin, but as Disa unwrapped one, he reveled strips of dried meat in it. He handed one to Loriel.
"It's not much, but it'll help keep your strength up if you're going to keep pouring yourself into Garret. And at least give yourself a check up. They put you down, and if you don't feel that yet, you will soon enough. Take it from me." He explained. Small emergency packets of food were easy enough to hide on hsi person for moments like this. But Disa had yet to find a way to secure water on his person and keep it hidden.
human
The sigh said much to the young elf - or at least, that's how she interpreted it. He was disappointed that she wasn't better than she was, he wanted more in a mage than what he had in front of him, he was possibly thinking of trying to break out but she was just the wrong person to attempt it with, if she'd been better he might have attempted something to break their current confinement, she was sure there was a negative thought in the sigh somewhere about her being an elf... She knew that such interpretations were likely not accurate but she'd built up a negative picture of Disa based on what she'd seen and heard of him so far, at least so far as the interactions between them had gone. She couldn't see things between them changing any time soon, if ever.
That he attempted some level of conversation with her as a small surprise. He might not have liked it, but he appreciated her honest appraisal of the situation they now found themselves in. He was right - she didn't have to apologise to him for being forthright; and certainly not for being what she was. Maybe she took that a bit far, but she couldn't help it. Apologise for errors, maybe; apologise for reality, no.
The offer of a slice of meat was a bigger surprise, although one she kept hidden from him...or maybe she just didn't really have the energy in herself to react with surprise. Watching him pull slice of cloth-wrapped meat from inside his armour...that was something she hadn't expected. She decided, as she took the offered morsel with a nod of thanks, that she didn't want to know anything more beyond it being something edible. Knowing what it was, or how long it had been there, might lend itself to the offering being refused. As she took a small nibble from the sliver of meat she patted her robe with her free hand, found the small bag of mixed nuts she kept, withdrew the bag and set it in her lap.
"I'll have a bruise tomorrow," Loriel agreed slowly, as she gently touched the side of her face where the fist had struck her. "It aches a bit right now, but I don't feel too bad other than that. I'll look out for myself once I'm sure Garret is okay. One more effort should be enough to make sure he'll be fine." She paused, took another bite from the meat, pulled the bag of nuts open and offered it to Disa.
"You've heard my weak story of how I came to be here," she offered conversationally. "What broughtyouto the Inquisition?"
gpt
Disa worked through the dried meat, letting himself settle in place. There was little to be done from here. There was a brief moment of curiosity in Loriel handing him the bag of food, but then, turnabout was fair. He took a small handful. The variety was worth something to him, even if they were essentially having a protein based meal. When she spoke again, it brought about the question that he knew was likely going to be inevitable if they were sitting down adn not doing anything. And since he had no spite or bile to throw at her, she was likely to be mroe conversational. It made sense.
"I'm a warrior Loriel. It's...about all I am, all I've ever been. The world is coming to an end, or at least is giving it it's very best try. The Inquisition was not a choice for me, not really. The world is going to need it's very best on the lines if it's going to survive that. And without trying to sound arrogant, I know I'm far better than most. The Inquisition is the only group doing anything about this really. So...here I am. Doing what has to be done. Again. I thought I was done after the Blight, but..." he trailed off, letting his mind wander, before finishing his words. "...the life I was going to have after the Blight never panned out properly. So fighting in this war is all I have to me these days. And when it ends, and the world keeps on spinning, I suppose I'll have to go find another." He finished.
It wasn't everything, there was so much more he could have said, but that wasn't something he shared with anyone these days. Not about the end of the Blight, not about the estate, the vengeance, the victory, and certainly not about Amaranthine, and everything that had gone on there. Not even his clan knew all that had happened, and Loriel was far from a place that he would share such with her. He closed his eyes, letting a wash of emotion run over him a moment before stilling it, replacing it with a simmering anger, the one that always lurked just beneath his thoughts. A side effect of who he was,whathe was.
"If we get out of this...whenwe get out of this...I think you might want to get a little training on how to keep yourself safer if your opposition gets close to you. That bruise is a small miracle, it easily could have been a killing blow." He pointed out to her.
human
There was something...almost gratifying in the simple fact that Disa accepted her offering of nuts. Loriel knew that their relationship - such as it was - was far from smoothed out, but at least the sharing of food between them helped to settle her concerns about him, if only a little. And they were sitting close enough that theycouldshare food between them without moving more than arms. Maybe Garret had been right about Disa after all...but she'd still reserve any final judgement for much, much later. Things like this helped, though.
"We've all got a few things we don't want to talk about," she acknowledged softly with a slow nod of her head to indicate her understanding. He was talking to her, but he wasn't opening up to her - not that she'd have expected him to do so, when they'd only known each other for a few hours at best, and his opinion of her (as well as her opinion of him) was less than charitable. She'd not be the one to pry. He'd tell her things when he was ready to...IF he was ready to. But what he had said spoke volumes about the man before her - he was weary, he was seasoned, he was hardened. He knew what he wanted in a squad; he just didn't seem to be overly prepared to recognise that not all squads were going to immediately measure up to his standards.
His comments about her training...they were not unwarranted. "I know some mages have trained to use their staff as a physical weapon, and not just a magical one," she noted carefully. "It was something I only managed to see through a cracked-open door. In the Tower, students like myself were kept separate from Harrowed mages; we only moved up when we'd completed our Harrowing. Apprentices weren't taught much beyond how to control what magic they had and how to use a staff, in addition to a good, academic education. Only mages who had completed their Harrowing were taught more involved magics and spells."
She took a bite from the slice of meat and chewed on it silently for a few seconds. "I'll need to somehow get a new staff when we get back to Haven," she added a little optimistically, as she quickly looked around the room and didn't see hers. "Mine will be somewhere in the swamp, probably lost until some random adventurer finds it by chance. Once I've got a staff...maybe I'll be able to convince a more senior mage to help me learn a few things that might make me more useful in the field."
She paused, then sneezed daintily as she felt the cold of her soaked robe slowly seep through her, and she barely managed to suppress a shiver. A mage's basic robes weren't meant for excessive outdoors use.
gpt
Disa shook his head as she spoke, knowing that what she was saying wasn't wrong, or even skewed. But the fact that most mages he had met knew nothing about protecting themselves physically had made his life easier adn more complicated in equal measure. Protecting the mages was difficult, but killing those opposing him had been easier.
"There are a few soldiers int he scout teams that use a spear as a weapon. They should be able to show you how to use a staff, since they seem to just be spears with longer blades and can throw spells." Disa point out. "I can see about getting them to give you some training when we get back. After this I think we might be rotated into the back lines for some recovery time."
Her comment about getting more help fromt he senior mages made Disa wonder. On one hand, if it was possible for them to bring her skills up to par with more experienced field mages, then so much the better. But from what he knew of mages, it normally took a very long time to properly train a mage to know anything worth knowing. She had thus far been discovering spells. Was that how mages used to learn, before the circles, before things had been standardized? It was possible that Loriel might be stumbling into something that had a power all it's own.
"Worry about making sure you don't get killed in the field first. Magically you're doing better than I expected. That should sort itself out." He told her calmly. Disa noted the way she was holding herself, knew that she was likely not taking the cold stone well, not with the weather. He sighed, and unfastened the clasp of the cloak he wore. Heavy fur from a great bear, He dropped it on her without much in the way of warning or ceremony. Or aiming. What he ahd intended to fall on her shoudlers instead landed on her head, covering her in the heavy garment, which, he supposed, would still serve it's purpose. "Don't freeze on me. We need you healthy enough to help Garret." He was suppressing a smile at the sight of the mage covered in the heavy fur, not his intent, but still somehow amusing. He looked away before she could get a look at him, letting her draw what conclusion that she might from his action. He spent the time to get his breastplate back in place. Without the cloak, he was goign to be wanting the armour to help keep his own heat in.
human
The elven mage stayed silent as Disa spoke. She was having trouble wrapping her head around the fact that Disa had just given her a compliment not a full-on positive compliment, true, but still a compliment. And he was offering constructive assistance in helping her improve. This wascompletely not what shed been expecting from the man. There was a person under the coldness, after all. There was still some harboured suspicion that he had an ulterior motive for suddenly being almost-nice to her, like he was waiting for her to make a mistake so he could turn it around and use his niceness against her, but-
Loriels thoughts were momentarily halted when something large and heavy and furry hit her, almost completely covering her in the process. It was warm, too, a little, like it had recently been near an open fire or worn or something. The impact rocked her slightly, although she didnt topple over or lose her balance, and she found she had to struggle to find her way out of thisobject. It took her a few seconds, after she popped the remainder of the strip of meat into her mouth, to find her freedom, and it was only then that she realised that it was Disas heavy cloak that she was now encased in. She paused as she wondered why hed do that for her she looked up at him curiously, but his head was turned away so she couldnt see his expression. Was there some dark humour in this for him throw his cloak at her in a supposed act of kindness, but do it in a way to cause problems and express annoyance? Shed probably never know, and she wasnt about to ask. He was putting his armour on, likely to help him keep some warmth after giving his cloak to her. Maybe the simple response would be best.
Thank you, she murmured quietly, sincerely, as she finally found the edges of the cloak and wrapped it around her thin frame. The cloak was almost as large as she was certainly it was as tall as her, and she could probably wrap it around herself twice if she tried hard enough. She remained huddled within it for a few moments, feeling some warmth finally creep back into her body, before she turned her attention back to Garret as, she realised, Disa had suggested while she was trying to find her way out of his cloak.
Still with us, Garret? she asked the scout quietly. He did look better, she thought. Garrets eyes were closed; to her eyes, the scout looked as though hed been resting.
Of course, the scout replied quietly. No way Id miss seeing you find your way out of the sergeants cloak like that.
And here I thought you were a friend, Loriel pouted good-naturedly. That didnt stop the flush climbing her cheeks, though.
Of course you are, Garret countered lightly. Friends tease each other, dont they?
I suppose thats true, she agreed, a faint smile on her lips. She was gratified to hear strength returning to the scouts voice. Lets see about that leg of yours, shall we?
Im not going anywhere, Garret pointed out, as he watched Loriel prepare herself. In truth, he was still wary of the young mage she was discovering magic on her own, it looked like, and there were no Templars to back them up if she got out of control. He wasnt sure about having a mage around without Chantry controls, but she was all they had and if it hadnt been for her, he knew, hed be dead. That shed in all likelihood saved his life with her magic didnt temper his caution around mages.
Loriel nodded, but remained silent as she gathered her will and focussed on pushing energy towards his remaining injury. Through the magic she could tell that the injury had gotten a little infected to be expected, given their situation but it wasnt bad enough that shed not be able to fix itshe hoped. She steeled herself, pushed her will and energy against the injury, felt it respond slowly. Maybe healing the injury in his leg would be a little easier after her previous efforts at healing his other injuries.
Time would tell.
gpt
Garret waking up to see the cloak incident did make Disa smile. Maybe the mageling wasn't so bad. For now. Disa turned back to to see Loriel starting to work on Garret's leg.
"Sir?" Garret asked quietly.
"Yes?" Disa answered easily.
"Since we seem to have some time on our hands...what's with your sword? I've never heard it make a sound. Is it even metal?" Disa had to grin at that question.
"No. It's not. It's a single piece of bone."
"Bone? What bone is that big?"
"That's a bit of tale."
"We have nothing but time."
"Fair enough." Disa settled back on his haunches and started to talk.
It had been a long year in the Wilds, with three apostates fleeing into the swamps to try and avoid the Templars. So long as the Templars had the phylacteries though, there was never any doubt that the mages were going to get found. Still, one of them was clever, and had made a plan. They led the Templars deep into the swamps, the heavy armour slowing his pursuers down, but they kept coming on. While they might have been able to subdue and kill the mage, the mage led them to a cave. When they came to it, they called the mage out, offering clemency if he would but give himself up.
The Mage declined.
From the cave came a giant. The mage had ensorcelled it's mind, binding the beast to his will, and he sent it to do battle with the Templars. While the Templars were skilled, they were not able to counter the magic that the mage used to augment the giant, and fight the beast. Against either one alone they might have prevailed, but against both it was a lost cause. Had the mage simply released the giant, and went on his way, the Chasind would not have had any issue. But the mage now had a taste for dominion, and set out to take more to his will. He set his sights on a Chasind village.
We did not stand idle. The clan rallied, scouts having seen the battle, and seen that the mage was heading straight for a village. I went with a band of warriors, assembling to halt the beast before it reached the village. The mage met us, adn simply ordered the giant to slay us all.
But the Chasind are not Templars.
We did not have the skills of dealing with magic, but we were well practiced at bringing down the beasts of the land. Our shaman kept the barrier off of the giant, allowing other magics through, but letting us bring the beast low. Those with mauls attacked the front of the leg, aiming for the knee, seeking to break the joint, while those of us with axes or swords went after the back of the leg, seeking to hamstring it. One of our fiercest warriors, Yrsa, it was her blade that finally cut the hamstring to bring the beast to it's knees. We lost several of our number to the beast before that, and another to a sweep of it's fist once it was brought low. I put a sword through it's eye, the death throes of the beast tossed me aside, breaking three of my ribs. But Yrsa and I both went for the mage. The mage tried to warp our minds, burn us away with flames, but we pushed through it. We spit him on blades from two sides, and left his corpse for the wolves.
"From the femur of the giant, the shamans crafted my flatblade as a trophy of battle. They blessed the blade, swore it to the clan and the ancestors. It is the finest weapon I've borne." Disa finished.
"Shame the Avvar have it." Garret lamented.
"Only for now. Thats word is part of my legacy. I'll have it back before I leave this mire." Garret smiled at Disa's casual oath. COming from the Chasind, he beleived it.
human
Although she was mainly focussing on the healing of Garrets leg, Loriel wasnt so focussed that she was unable to listen to Disas tale of how his blade came to be. It was interesting, very interesting: she knew of giants, of course, and knew that apostates realapostates, not every mage that now existed following the dissolving of the Circles were given to wandering the lands and either causing mischief or trying to hide. Of course, there was that lingering suspicion that the tale might have been embellished a little for effect and grand story-telling, but a part of her doubted Disa would distort a story simply to satisfy his ego. Likewise, she didnt doubt the sincerity in Disas voice when he declared that hed have the blade back, and sooner rather than later.
Apostate. Again, the word bounced around in her mind. She was an apostate not by choice, true, but with the Circles being dissolved and there now being no Chantry supervision of mages, then all mages were, by definition, apostates. By rights, then, Templars were authorised to hunt down and kill apostates; normally a Templar would be obliged to return an apostate to a Circle, but as there were no Circles for apostates to be returned TO She felt the healing magic waver as her focus slipped, and she mentally shook herself back into the moment and returned her attention to the scouts leg.
Garret must have noticed something if anyone was going to, he would, given it was his leg being looked at and cast a quizzical gaze at the young elven girl. Are you okay, there, Loriel? He was understandably curious; it was his leg that would or would not be healed by this girls hand.
Loriel sighed softly and nodded. Yes. Sorry, she replied quietly. I was justthinking. Random thoughts. She gave a small, somewhat-forced smile. You know, those thoughts that start at one point then lead to another, then another
Okay, the scout accepted without too much hesitation. He suspected there might be more to it, but he wasnt going to ask about it; if Loriel said she was fine, she was fine, and that was enough for him at this time. A few seconds later he felt the healing warmth withdraw, then the gentle pressure of her hands was removed.
ThereI think thats done it, she declared. Hes as right as I can make him at the moment. After some rest he should be okay to movebut gently, to start with.
gpt
Disa nodded at her words. They were going to be here for the duration likely. They were reduced to waiting for rescue. Which was one upside of being a part of something like the Inquisition, there was a support group behind them that would come for them. And Disa should have reported back by now. Hopefully Harding would take action. Taking the moment that he had, he got out his map and charcoal, and scribed away the path that they had been led down. It was unlikely to be needed at this point, but keepign his maps up to date was a passion of his. He'd make sure that they were as accurate as he could make them.
He had just finished when the door was opened. Disa had an axe in one hand, ready to cast, make a move, when three more men in Inquisition colours were shoved into the room. The door slammed shut, and hte lock clicked. Disa stared a moment, trying to match the faces to names.
"Dylan. What brings you out this way?" Disa asked one of htem. The man scowled.
"Looking for you. We're...supposed to be a rescue." The man answered.
"Really? And how's that working for you?" The man flushed, adn was about to snap back when he noticed that Disa was smiling. Both men burst out laughing at the situation.
"Oh, it's trouble. We were supposed to maintain our distance, but we found your camp, and knew that thigns had gone wrong. Thought we should try and help." Dylan admit. Dylan was a tall man, nearly of a height with Disa, but much lighter. Where Disa was bulky and built, Dylan was wiry and lithe. Dylan looked around the room, and sighed when he saw the hunter. "Oh no. Zander?" He asked, coming close to the body. Disa shook his head.
"Didn't make it. Even magery can only do so much." Disa answered. "What of your own people?" Dylan was crouched beside the hunter, now identified as Zander, and hung his head a moment.
"I sent Paula back to Harding to make sure that what happened was known. The rest of us are all right. A little rough around the edges, but when we saw how badly outnumbered we were, we surrendered to the Avvar." When he saw Disa look at him with some distaste, Dylan responded quickly. "I'm not you Disa. Outnumber me four to one, and I know I'm already dead. This way there was a chance to get my people out alive." Disa looked away, not wanting to comment farther.
"I see Garret is still with us?" Dylan asked as the rest of his squad were sitting down along the wall. Garret weakly raised his hand, a thumb upraised. "And who is this then? I see you acquired yourself a mage! Didn't know we had experienced ones on the scout teams!" "We didn't." Disa answered bluntly. "Green as grass, tower trained." He let that hang for a second or two. "But she's blooded now. She's killed in defense of her squad. A little training and we'll amke a soldier out of her yet, eh Mageling?" Disa gave Loriel a brief wink. He seemed at ease with Dylan, like someone that knew Disa better than most.
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A slightly-awkward silence fell over the room as Disa accepted her words or it felt awkward to Loriel, at least. Disa was apparently not too bothered by her thoughts on moving Garret he might not have liked it, but it didnt appear to upset him in any way, if his decision to draw his map was any guide. So if Disa didnt appear to be bothered by it, why did she feel he might be? It was an annoying curiosity she didnt like him, he didnt like her, why did she find herself wanting his approval? Shed be asking for a transfer to a different team when they got back to camp anyway, so trying to make him approve of her of both her presence and her capability was a pointless waste of her time and effort.
She looked at Garret as she continued to kneel next to the scout, wrapped snugly inside Disas cloak as she was. The man looked healthier, she could see that. Colour had returned to his cheeks. His breathing was steadier, deeper. His face appeared calmer. His clothes and armour were still blood-soaked, and that wasnt going to change any time soon, but he was no longer bleeding profusely from the wounds hed sustained. In time, she knew, shed get better, stronger, more competent with her magicright now, she had to make do with what she had.
Shed just settled to focus on her own mind, to try and study these new patterns of magic that had formed in her head especially that last one, Barrage when the door was opened roughly. Her head snapped around to look at the doorway, and almost without thinking she began to draw on her will and mana reserves and was calling up the Immolate spell patternuntil she saw three more Inquisition scouts walked into the room to join them. She relaxed her body, relaxed her mind, let the summoning of her energy fade.
Disa and this Dylan knew each other quite well, it seemed. Disa appeared to show that he could be a nice person when he wanted to be; that was news to her. The new arrivals were concerned about Garret, and apparently happy to see him alive; she finally found out the hunters name when they asked about him and heard he couldnt be saved. And Loriel did not miss the deliberate pause when Disa introduced her to the others not by name, just by lack of experience. He did, at least, follow up with some faint praise, but that wink he usedsome many interpretations, some of them likely wrong. And at least one of this new team got away to warn Lead Scout Harding what was going on.
While Disa and Dylan continued to chat between themselves, the other two members of the new team both male, both human approached her and Garret. They squatted near her, side-by-side almost, watching both her and the resting scout.
Maren, the man introduced himself, then pointed to the woman. Davin. Both scouts in Dyalns team. Maren wasnt unkind, but he wasnt friendly, either.
Loriel, the young elf replied, moving her attention from Garret to the two newcomers. Im the teams rather inexperienced mage, as Im sure youve heard by now. She couldnt hide the faint note of bitterness in her voice as she spoke. This is Garret, scout in Disas team. She hesitated for a couple of seconds, then shuffled the cloak until she was able to push a thin arm out, and she held out her hand to Maren. The two humans looked slightly surprised by the offer, but then took her hand in turn, Maren first followed by Davin.
What happened to you? Maren asked curiously.
Loriel sighed softly as she thought back. The short version? We left main camp a day or so ago, as ordered. Scouted through the Mire, found nothing significant, ran into undead and fought them back. Came upon a rift that hadnt opened properly and went wide of it. Set camp after a time. Woke up to find we were being scouted by Avvar. Tried to get ahead of them, but they caught us. We fought hard, but there was too many. We were overwhelmed by numbersand then I got hit hard on the side of the head. Next thing I know, Im here, and tending to Garret.
Garret was bad, then? Davin asked with some concern.
The elven mage nodded. Hed taken a spear to the upper chest, and sword slashes to his stomach and leg. Bad, but not beyond my limited ability. Zander, thoughhed been felled by two throwing axes, badly. I couldnt help him.
At least you saved one, Davin noted. Better than losing both of them.
I suppose, Loriel agreed. Doesnt make me feel better about losing Zander, though.
Thats true, Davin replied sympathetically.
Garrets eyes had flickered open during the brief exchange, and he turned his head slightly to regard the other two scouts. MarenDavin he muttered quietly. What are you two doing here?
Maren coughed slightly. Would you believe were rescuing your sorry ass, Garret?
Really. It wasnt a question, not at all, and there was no way the extreme doubt could be hidden in Garrets voice. After a couple of seconds the three scouts laughed quietly, and even Loriel smiled. I think your rescue efforts need a little work, Maren, Garret added when the laughter had faded.
So howd you end up with a mage on your team, Garret? Davin wanted to know. To Loriels surprise, there was no hostility or nastiness in the mans question.
Not sure, exactly, Garret admitted. Disa had requested an additional person to fill the final spot on our squad. Hed requested another scout or hunter, but Harding put Loriel in. Disa wasnt thrilled, but Id say Loriels earned her place so far. If it hadnt been for her wed have likely stumbled into that rift instead of avoiding it, and her Barriers have kept us going longer than we might have otherwise done. Then she can attack with her staff at a range greater than a bow can do. I might be a little worried about a mage roaming freely as shes doing, but shes helped us along. Shes all right, in my book.
Loriel flushed slightly at the compliment as the other two scouts both nodded their appreciation to the elven mage. Youre just saying that because I healed you, Garret, she offered, in an attempt to deflect the praise.
Dont sell yourself short, Loriel, Garret countered. Magical support has been more beneficial than Id thought it would be. Disas right, youre coming along well, given how little experience you had when you joined us. There might have been some attempt to boost Loriels self-esteem and ego in there, but Garret wasnt going to shy away from it.
If we get a magewho goes? Davin wondered out loud.
You, Maren replied quickly. You can pick locks better than me, sure, but youre useless with that bow. He paused, then grinned broadly; the grin grew when Davin whacked him on the upper arm in response to his comments.
gpt
Dylan and Disa were crouched down speaking quickly.
"We've got a mage adn two axes between us. Not exactly the makings of a proper break out Disa." Dylan pointed out.
"I know. And Garret isn't ready to move with any speed. And I won't leave him behind." Disa responded.
"So...we're waiting?"
"All we can do right now. The Mageling says that he's not ready to move, adn she made sure he didn't die, so I'll be taking her word for it."
"All seems fair to me."
"Besides, we just need to hang on until Harding comes for us."
"Harding isn't coming." Disa fell silent.
"What?" He demanded.
"Harding isn't leading anyone into the Mire. She sent me and mine out to try to find a direction that would lead the rescue team in to get you. Word is, Harding is sending word back to Haven for a proper rescue. COuld be COmmander Cullen will put a team together, and come get us. Or they might send the Herald." Dylan said quietly.
"Really? The Herald? You think they might send the Herald in forus?"
"You sound surprised."
"It's a waste of the Herald's time. The Commander could wrap this up in a few hours, a fast hard strike of his best men, and they'd have the Avvar put to flight in no time. They won't send the Herald. Not for people like us. So in the meantime...let's pool our supplies. I don't think that the Avvar intend to take much care of us."
Dylan and Disa went over what food they had. Dylan had a similar trick to Disa, with oilskinned food tucked under his armour. Between the new arrivals and Disa, they had enough food to keep everyone moving for maybe a few days at most.
"Not good." Dylan observed.
"Best we can do." Disa answered. He hesitated. "Mageling. Witht eh damage that's been dealt tot he Veil in this area, I don't suppose you can...push us through it, can you? Take us through the Fade, and maybe we leave through one of the breaches?" Dylan just stared at at Disa, the enormity of the madness of the suggestion filling the room. But at the same time, if it would work, it was way out from under teh Avvar's boot. And they needed to examine all their options.
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Loriel found that shed actually been a little caught up in the conversation between the three scouts she hadnt been a participant so much, but she had been included and had been paying attention. She hadnt really noticed that Disa and Dylan had been talking quietly between themselves, beyond the general question of pooling supplies to see what they had and how long they could make things stretch, and when Disa asked his question of her, the elven mage had to stop and focus on him before shed realised what hed asked. At least the answer was easy enough.
You want totophysicallyenter the Fade? She was suddenly very aware that all conversation in the room had stopped, and every head in the room had turned to look at her. N-no. It would require more mages than just me to do it, wed need a large amount of Lyrium, theres a ritual to be done to even crack the Veil and thats to just send your minds into the Fade while youre awake. To actually enter the Fade, to walk there in personthe last time that was done, according to Chantry lore, was about a thousand years ago and we all know what happened afterwards, at least as the Chantry tells it. In any event, I have no way of controlling the rifts to make one open or close. She paused for a split second. II understand and appreciate why youre asking, butno.
She sighed and shrunk back into the cloak, as she sat down and drew her knees to her chest. Even if I could do all that on my ownthe Fade is not a friendly place. It shifts and moves, its difficult to determine direction. Your own will defines it, in a way. Its the world of spirits and demons, and any presence in the Fade would eventually attract them a spirit might guide you, if youre lucky; a demon would surely try and devour you. There are few landmarks there to help guide you. Even gravity isnt what youd expect you can look down and see a snippet of land youre walking on, and then look up and see an island floating above you. You can see echoes ghosts, if you like of people, alive and dead. You can sometimes hear conversations you may have had, or conversations others may have had. The Fade reflects both yourself and where you are, at the same time it is drawn from your will and shaped by it. She sighed softly. I didnt especially like it when I was there for my Harrowing; I wont be thrilled about going there again.
Garret almost looked relieved as Loriel rattled off a large number of reasons to not go; he was well aware of the Chantrys teachings and had no desire to reproduce them. Maren and Davin, not knowing Loriel, looked a bit more dubious but simply didnt have enough knowledge of their own to counter the mage. For her part, Loriel, having effectively shot down a wild escape plan, kept to herself. She wasnt sorry about it Disa had already told her not to be apologetic for speaking her mind like that but that didnt make her feel better about being the negative one.
gpt
Disa nodded as she spoke.
"Very well, much as I suspected. It was a long shot." he said quietly, and gave Loriel a nod of thanks, or at least acknowledgement.
"If it was such a long shot, why ask?" Dylan all but demanded.
"You'll never land a long shot if you don't take one Dylan." There was a moment of silence.
"And besides, from what I hear from the mages, do you know how dangerous going into the Fade is?"
"Yes." Disa's answer was instant, no hesitation.
"You...seem pretty sure of that." Dylan point out.
"Don't ask more Dylan. There's some things you don't want to know the answer to." Disa answered quietly. Disa stopped, a thought that was uncomfortable coming to him.
"Mageling." He looked back to Loriel. "With all the spirits spilling through into here...what are the chances that they might...find a home nearby?" He asked, looking pointedly at the corpse of Zander. He didn't relish the idea of having to dismember the corpse of someone that had fought alongside him, was hoping that the answer would be other than what he feared, but there was still a side fo him that would do what had to be done.
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She hadnt expected to be addressed again; that was clear in the way the young mage slowly raised her head and looked at Disa. It was equally clear, from the small scowl on her face, that she was getting annoyed again, as far as Garret knew by Disas referring to her as mageling and not by name. She had thought there was some progress, however small, in the relationship between herself and the sergeantclearly there had not been. Or maybe he was being an ass to her because of the new faces around them.
My name, she snapped sharply, is Loriel.as you well know. She paused, then drew in a slow breath to try and calm herself. To everyone else in this room, fighting and injuring and being injured and killing and watching others be killed and capturing and being captured might be old-hat; to her, it wasnt. Now that the adrenaline and euphoria of this situation was wearing off, the strain of the predicament she was in was starting to get to her.
Ino, I dont think you have to worry about his body getting up again, she replied slowly, although she wasnt as confident in this reply as she had been in others so far. The Veil needs to be weakened before spirits can come through. Thats why there are currently reports of demons where the Veil has been breached, but not many reports of them away from where the breaches are. If you were to take his body near a breach and leave it there for a short time, Id reasonably expect a demon might take an interest; but here, we should be okay.
She lowered her chin to her arms as she huddled up inside the cloak; she could feel a slight tremor go through her frame as she did so. She knew it was only the cloak that was hiding her reactions from the eyes of the others.
Sounds good to me, Maren offered, clearly not thrilled by the suggestion that Zanders body might get up and start terrorising them, but somewhat put at ease by the mages assertion that it would not. Davin, not having anything else to offer, just nodded in agreement. Garret nodded as well, but gave Loriel a curious look; it could be argued that, of all the people currently in the room, he knew Loriel the best, and he wondered if there was more going on within her than she was showing. He knew her field experience was limited to this expedition, and shed been thrown into the worst possible experience as her initiation.
gpt
Disa nodded at her words, but caught the difference in tone. WHen she'd talked about the Fade, going into it, she'd been utterly certain, the onyl edge to her voice had been from the disbelief that someone was even asking. This time there was a touch of uncertainty. She didn't know completely. But she felt it wasn't likely, and he was going to have to trust her on that front. If nothing else, he knew what it would do to morale if he took the throwing axe to Zander and carved him up so he couldn't rise. It was time to wait now, see if anything new came from their captivity.
Disa leaned against the wall, closing his eyes, letting that warriors rest come on him. It would keep him ready to react, but it let his body relax enough to recover some strength. Dylna was doing something similar, he'd been on campaign more than once before, he kenw some of hte tricks.
Garret coughed, a feeling of odd heat in his limbs making him wonder if something might be amiss. But then, he'd been exposed to a great deal of magic lately, it was probably just a byproduct of that.
"You know he calls you that as something like a nickname, right?" He said softly to Loriel. "He doesn't often call people by their given names. Usually titles...or names he makes up. He thinks using a name has weight, shouldn't be done casually. If he was trying to insult you, well...you heard him break out the slurs for you. Since the fight, how often has he used them on you?" He asked her, managing a faint smile. "I think he likes you."
Garret gave another cough, leading to a shudder this time, putting some discomfort of his newly healed wounds. Loriel had stopped him from dying, mended much of the damage, but it still felt tender.
"Are you all right?" He asked her, barely loud enough for her to make out. Whatever he did, it was clear he wasn't trying to drag her intot he light witht he others if she was trying to keep something private.
human
There was no real conversation, not from Dylan and Disa at any rate. Loriel was grateful for the silence as she watched the two sergeants she presumed Dylan was a sergeant as well leaned against a wall and relax into some kind of meditative restful state. Maren and Davin did likewise not leaning against a wall so much, more than just sitting back and relaxing, knowing that there wasnt much going to happen for a while. She knew she should do the same, but she also knew that rest was going to be denied her for a while. She was too wound up from the events of the last day or so. Nothing shed done in the Tower could have prepared her for what shed just experienced; nothing shed gone through since the Circles had dissolved had prepared her for what shed just experienced.
She should review her spells, she knew. How had two spell patterns formed in her mind without her studying the patterns first? In the Tower, it was known that you normally had to look at spells in a text to understand what they might do, then receive some instruction from another mage, before a spell could be utilised. Of course, once a pattern was known it was never lost or forgotten; it was as if the Fade itself made sure a spell was never forgotten by a mage. Butshed picked up not one, but two, spell patterns spontaneously, without any prior study or even knowledge of the spells. Was thatwas that what it was like for the ancient elves of Arlathan? Shed never know, of course, but she couldnt help but wonder about the elves of old, a land and culture and knowledge long-lost to time and violence.
Before she could pursue any further thoughts, Garret coughed to get her attention. His question was not unreasonable, but his comment surprised her.
He likes me? she repeated quietly, not sure shed heard him correctly. You couldve fooled me oh, waityou did. She paused, then gave a quiet snort. WellI suppose its good to know that hes not being difficult just to annoy me. The nickname I can deal with, if thats all it is. I guessI was just brought up differently, first in the Clan, then in the Tower. You live by what you know. She shook her head slightly, noted the scout carefully changing his position so he could look at her better.
Am I all right? She sighed softly. Yes. No. II dont know. I dont want to sound selfish or anything, butwell, Ive never been in a situation like this before. Scouting, fighting, killing, being captured I dont know how to deal with it, Garret. After the Circles were dissolved, I avoided contact with just about everyone, out of fear of how theyd react to me, an apostate. I overheard rumours and stories when people walked past my hiding places. I killed small animals for food its amazing how long a fenec or nug can last when you eat sparingly for one, although neither of them taste very good if you dont cook them right. But what weve just done in the past day? How do you deal with that? She hadnt quite started crying as shed spoken, but Loriel knew she wasnt far from it; certainly her eyes had started to redden, and even in the dimmed light Garret could see the change in the mages face.
II dont know, Garret admitted. You justdo. That doesnt help, I know except maybe to realise that if its not them, its you. Out here, its about survival. If youve done all you can and survived, youve done well. If youve helped others survive along the way, youve done better. You The scout paused, not sure whether to reach out a hand to try and give her a comforting grip or notand decided not. I suppose I had it a bit easier, when I made my first kill of another person. It was a while ago, when we had a few angry and hungry refugees come our way during the Blight. They were impatient, rude, loud, ungratefuleven though we tried to help them. Eventually my father got tired of it, pushed backthings escalated into a brawl, weapons were drawnwhen it was over I had a bloodied knife in one hand, blood spatter all over me, and a dead man at my feet. I wasfifteen, I think. I had my family to help me deal with it. It was then I learned that sometimes you have to make a stand, that if you dont they will.
The scout fell silent for a second, then smiled apologetically and shook his head. Im sorryI dont have any words of wisdom for you.
Justpick yourself up and move on, hmmm? Loriel suggested, and Garret nodded slowly. Ithanks, Garret. Youve given me something to think about, at least. She leaned forwards and placed a hand lightly on his shoulder. Get some rest. Ill have another look at you in a little while. Garret nodded again and shuffled himself down.
Soon the room was silent but for the sounds of breathing, and Loriel drifted into her own thoughtsthoughts that stayed with fighting and killing and hurting and capture and the mysteries of magic.
gpt
Disa stayed dozing fro awhile, not really interested in anything that was going on around him at the moment. He didnt know how long it was that he sat like that when Dylann nudged him into full wakefulness.
"Hey. You listening?" Dylan asked.
"No, why?" Disa countered.
"I suppose it didn't really occur to you to maybe make sure your mage was settling in?"
"She fought well. What more do yuo want from me?"
"She's young Disa. Very young. And we weren't all born Barbarians, blood in our mouths and blades close at hand. Don't know if now is the time, but she might need to have a chat with her serggeant about how to reckon with that."
"I don't know if I'd be much help Dylan. I've killed hudreds of peope in my life, and I can't remember a single one that I questioned or felt remorse over." Dylan was quiet.
"Yeah, maybe you're not the best person to talk to her. But I still think you should." Disa sighed, and stood up. He probably wasn't wrong.
Disa crossed the floor quietly, seeing others had settled in for a nap since there was precious else to do. He stopped beside Garret. It was cold in the chamber, but Garret was sweating. Badly. Disa held a hand over his brow, and could feel the heat radiating off of him. Not a good sign. He did a quick check on arret, not touching him, but getting a look. It was faint, but Disa managed to pick out a very faint discolouration on his wrist, running along the veins.
"Mageling." He called to her. "I think we need you over here." Disa annouced. Garret stirred awake faintly.
"Sir? We leaving?" Garret asked, his voice more of a slurred mumble.
"Soon Garret. Keep resting, and let Loriel check you over." He assured the scout. He turned Garret's arm over to show Loriel the markings.
"Is there anything you can do for him? If it helps, the Avvar would likely have used Blood Lotus for any poison. Tears of the Dead I think it is commonly called." Disa supplied to Loriel.
human
At the term Mageling, Loriel sighed to herself as she pulled herself out of her meditative-like state. That name was probably going to stick with her now, at least in public probably until the day she died, and maybe not even then. It could only mean, too, that Disa was wanting to tell her something he thought was important, or ask her something he thought was important, or bothshed find out in short order, she knew hed make sure of that.
What she didnt expect was for him to ask her to go to Garret.
When she crossed the few steps to the pair, she could see that Garret was worse off than shed thought, and she accepted Disas words with a brief nod of acknowledgement. How had she not seen the poison in the man? Why hadnt the poison bene purged by her earlier healing efforts? But even as she asked herself the questions, she knew what the answer was: because she hadnt been looking for poison. But could she deal with poisons? Surely she could, she must be able to Garrets life now depended on it. How could Disa know, just by looking, what poison was likely slowly killing Garret? She probably didnt want to know the answer to that one, but she also knew shed ask him about that later. She knelt next to the scout and drew her will about her again. She suspected that dealing with poison would be harder than dealing with wounds and injuries.
As the healing magic descended upon Garret yet again, she found the pattern of poison in the mans body. She knew she could adapt the healing magic pattern to counter the poison, but it was going to be harder because the poison had had time to make its way through Garrets frame. If shed got to the poison earliershe pulled the thought up short; she didnt need doubts and nagging thoughts, not now. She pushed her will forward instead, felt the resistance of the poison
Come on, Garret, she pleaded in a quiet voice. Dont do this to me. Dont you give up on me after all Ive done to try and get you back on your feet. She didnt get a response, and hadnt expected one. But she could, finally, start to feel the poison weaken its grip on the man. It was slow going. It was hard work. She could feel herself slipping, fading, as she worked to remove the poison. It was a difficult one to get rid of; not that shed expected poisons to be simple, but they all worked differently both in themselves and in their victims, and as such they required more concentration and focus than healing injuries.
Fight it, Garret, she whispered, more to herself than to anyone else. Fight it. You can do it. Her arms were trembling slightly. She could feel her legs weakening. How long had she been at this? No idea. But it was starting to get easieror less difficult, depending on your point of view.
Finally she heaved a big sigh as she withdrew her will. She swayed slightly, put a hand on the ground to attempt to steady herself, felt it waver until her elbow locked into position to stop her from falling. She didnt bother opening her eyes.
I thinkI got it all she offered faintly.
gpt
Disa heaved a sigh as Loriel did her work. There was a little bit of interest from the others, but it seemed to be passing. A mage doing her work wasn't a terribly exciting task. It was slow going, which told Disa that Loriel had power, strength, but she was really going to need to work on her refinement. He'd seen mages purge poisons and even thigns lie broken bones in seconds. Prehaps that was just a degree of specialization that many did not have, he didn't know. His knowledge of magecraft typically extended as far as killing them when they turned on him, or having them support his work.
As she worked, Disa saw her starting to push herself, seeingf the physical strain of purging things, and did extend a hand, steadying her somewhat. If all he could do was make she didn't topple over, he'd do it. As she started hissing out faint words, Disa didn't comment. Long years of isolation from traveling had left him with the habit of talking to himself many times,. He'd been among people enough lately to shed the habit mostly, but it still cropped up. Not one to throw stones on that subject.
"Rest Loriel." He told her when she confirmed she was done. "I'll watch him. If the signs start showing up again, I'll bring you back, and hopefully much sooner than this, so you can tackle it before it's spread widely." He assured her, his hand still gently on her shoulder. He left it there for just a moment longer, adn then withdrew it. He heaved a sigh, and started to listen to Garret, noting his breathing seemed steadier all ready. A very good sign.
He also heard what sound like faint clashes of steel. Either the Avvar were having it out, or someone was fighting them. There was amomentary thrill of hope. Had the Inquisition sent assisstance after all? Were they getting out of here?
human
The only response from Disa, it seemed, was the hand on her shoulder. It wasnt rough or heavy or pushy, justalmost comforting, as if he was thanking her for the work shed done. Shed never know, of course, because Disa didnt seem, to Loriel, to be the sort of man who randomly explained himself unless under duress or orders. His supporting hand was somehow not at all unwelcome, though she felt an appreciation for it, but she lacked the energy and breath to say so. Hed probably understand from her lack of effort to shrug his hand away.
She settled back into a seated position before his hand withdrew, as if he was making sure she wasnt going to fall over. She could feel her strength slowly return as she sat still. She knew within herself, and the thought was not the first time shed come to this conclusion, that shed have to work to get stronger if she was to be of continued use in the field. For all that shed determined to transfer to another team when they made it back to Haven, she was starting to get this niggling feeling that Harding might deny her request and keep her in Disas team. That would be just peachy although she at least had Garret for company, and theyd have to get another member to fill the team out. If Garret remained in the team, maybe staying wouldnt be so bad.
She slowly became aware of the sounds of fighting not too far away, the sounds of metal striking metal, what sounded like an occasional magical detonation and the crackling of electricity, the groans and grunts of people being injured. Had those sounds always been there and shed only just noticed? Had they only just started? Had she been dozing and the sounds had woken her up? She had no real way of knowingtime didnt seem to make sense in this room. But the sounds awoke a glimmer of hope in the young elf that they might be saved after all. She opened her eyes and glanced around at her companions theyd all noticed the sounds of fighting, and their faces seemed to hold similar hopes to her: that they might get out of here.
She leaned over to Garret, placed a hand on the mans shoulder. Soon, Garret, she murmured to the scout, who certainly appeared to be more alert now than he had been earlier. Well be out of here soon. She didnt know if that was an actual truth or not, but it helped her to say it.
Eventually the sounds of fighting faded, or at least moved away from them. Was it over, whatever was happening out there? Were they rescued, or were they about to die? She didnt know, couldnt know, wouldnt know until the door was opened.
Which it was about to do. There was movement outside the door, fiddling with the lock, a moving of a bar, jiggling with the latch and handlethen the door was pushed into the room.
One, two, three, four, five, sixand a stiff, an elven woman with short blonde hair announced as she stepped into the room and surveyed those already inside. The woman was not unattractive, was lightly armoured and carried a well-used bow; she spoke with a strange accent and an almost-nasal voice. Andone of the people is an elf, she added as her eyes settled on Loriel. Great.
Now, now, Sera, another, masculine, smoother voice sounded from behind as its owner, a thickset dwarf with a blonde ponytail and dressed in an armoured coat, walked into the room and slung a large crossbow over his back. Theres no need to be abusing the people weve just saved from certain death and dismemberment.
Shut it, Varric, the woman Sera replied dismissively. You know I just saved your arse, too, with that last shot of mine.
gpt
Disa was tense, wanting to be outside, wanting his weapon in his hand, wanting to be a prt of this fight. He'd been getting the better of the leader of the Avvar before they'd forced him back, he wanted to settle that score. As the sounds of fighting started to fade, he had a good idea that he wasn't going to get his chance to settle up. When the door open, he felt his lip curling in a sneer. He didn't know Sera, but he knewofher from Haven. Spend any time in the tavern there and you were bound to find some of the people known for traveling with the Herald. The sneer faded back as Varric entered the room. Now the dwarf, he knew. He'd bought more than a few tankards for the man in Haven, and while they might not be friends, they were at least acquainted.
"Varric, nice of you to drop by. You're late." Disa said flatly, pointedly ignoring Sera. He wasn't rightly in the mood to deal with her brand of obnoxiousness. Besides, as much as he'd given Loriel a hard time, she'd done well enough in the fight for him to offer her a little slack. "Are we clear outside, I'd like to get my wounded back to Haven for proper treatment."
Garret heaved out a sigh, and started shifting. He'd heard enough, and it was time to get himself moving. Rescue. Disa had been right.
"Sir." Garret grunted. Garret lifted and arm, and Disa grabbed it firmly, helping Garret to his feet. Garret staggered, a hand going to his side where one of his wounds had been. Healed it might have been, but it still hurt.
"Can you stand soldier?" Disa asked him.
"I'll run if I have to sir."
"Should have told me that hours ago Garret, we'd have been halfway home by now."
"Sorry sir, I'll accept the reprimand when we get home."
"Damn right you will. Lousy malingerer." Garret cracked a pained smile.
human
For all that she was grateful to see vaguely-friendly faces enter the room through the doorway in a controlled manner meaning that theyd just been rescued Loriel was less-thrilled about one of their rescuers. Shed seen the pair around Haven briefly, but not much: Loriel was only a recent arrival to the Inquisition, so hadnt met many faces or their owners, and had spent most of her time with the handful of mages the Inquisition had picked up already, anyway. It was clear from his reactions, though, that Disa knew who the pair were as did most others in the room, and Disa was apparently quite comfortable with this Varric, and less-so with the woman, Sera. But before she could say anything, Sera looked at Loriel and squinted closely.
Ill bet youre a mage, arent you? Sera asked curiously.
And Im Dalish, too, Loriel sighed softly, getting that out of the way quickly. Loriel of Clan Fihrallen, most recently of the Fereldan Circle of Magi.
Lovely, Sera replied sarcastically. A magic elfy-elf. All my nightmares rolled into one package.
Let it go, Sera, Garret cautioned from near Disa. Loriels all right. I owe her my life.
Yeah, whatever, Sera sniffed, before heading back to the door to apparently check how things were progressing outside.
Dont let her bother you, kid, Varric added, before turning to Disa and looking up at the big man. Sorry were late, Smiley, but we got held up. Our Illustrious Herald felt the need to stop and close a couple of rifts on the way to get to you, and a whole troop of undead also wanted to introduce themselves to us. The comment might have been interpreted as being sarcastic, but it was delivered with an air of respect that belied any possible negativity.
Loriel had dismissed Seras comments and found herself holding an instant dislike for the woman. It seemed, from the reactions of everyone else in the room, that she was the only one who didnt yet know this pair of Varric and Sera and so far she was quite happy to keep that familiarity restricted to Varric. Right now, all she wanted to do was get out of here, out of the room, out of the Mire, out of the areaand back to Haven. She needed more functional clothing, a new staff, trainingshe needed to make sure Garret was all right. That was only going to happen, it seemed, when Varric and Sera declared the area safe.
Looks like the Herald is now chatting to that big Avvar we met earlier, she called from the doorway. Sky-Watcher, was that his name? Anyway, I think well be good to move in a few minutes.
That news was the most welcome thing Loriel had heard in close to a week, she reckoned.
gpt
The fact taht Sera was walking away was the only reason that Disa didn't open his mouth to take a verbal slash at her. Disa helped Garret walk towards the door, the wounded man just needing a touch of support to keep himself up. Frankly he was in better shape than Disa had expected. At Varric's words, Disa had to crack a slight smile.
"Well, if I run into the Herald out there, I'll let them know to pick up their damn feet adn get their ass moving in the future. Wars are won and lost based on the speed of their forces after all. And you got help up byundead? It took thirty Avvar and a hostage situation to stop us and we're just a scout team!" Disa quipped back, moving at the door. He didn't speak to Sera, just using his bulk to bump her out of the way.
No matter how much she annoyed him, he was confidant she couldn't actually kill him with any less than four arrows. And by then he was equally confidant he could close the gap with her and break that scrawny knife-eared neck of hers, probably making a number of annoyed people happier. The keep area was a mess to be sure, the dead strewn along the ground, arrows and bolts in several of them. He grinned as he saw a fallen Avvar, adn stopped by a pillar, looking to Garret.
"Lean here a moment." He ordered. Garret obliged. Disa approached the fallen barbarian, and lifted his sword free. He swept it through a few passes, glad to have the weapon in hand once more. It was gratifying in a huge degree. He put the weapon back on it's hooks, adn turned to Garret, offering a hand again. "Mageling! Come on, or we're going to leave you here!" He called, heading for the exit. A huge Avvar was still there, but if the Herald had been present, tey were gone now. Disa sighed. He supposed Sera and Varric were their escort home.
human
Did I say a troop of undead? Varric snorted expansively to Disas comment. The dwarf didnt appear to be offended by the comment; and, looking at him, Loriel wasnt sure the dwarf could ever be offended by anything. More like a battalion. The damned things didnt stop coming as we tried to get into the keep, no matter how many we took down. Varric was, however, content to take point by the door as the former captives got themselves ready to move fortunately, it didnt seem to take long.
Loriels delay in joining the others was caused by her struggling to move inside Disas heavy cloak. While she was sitting down with the cloak wrapped around her, she was fine actually trying to stand and move in it without tripping and falling over was another thing entirely, and it was taking time for her to get used to moving in it. In the end she decided to do without it, and Disas call brought a small scowl to her otherwise-pretty face as she glanced up to the sergeant. As she watched him bend down to retrieve his sword she pushed the cloak wide with her arms and shrugged it off her shoulders her robe was still damp, and was still clinging to her, and shed still be coldbut shed be moving, at least. When hed clipped the sword to his back, she approached the large warrior and handed and oversized bundle of furs to him.
Hereyou can take this back, she declared calmly. I cant move in this, not effectively. She wasnt trained in stealth, for certain, but shed have no chance of moving carefully with that thing over her shoulders. Garret only smiled faintly and nodded while hed missed the event of Loriel receiving the cloak, hed seen how big it was on her. When the cloak was taken from her hands, the elven mage nodded her thanks and moved closer to Varric.
SoVarric, was it? she began, her voice filled with a confidence she didnt quite feel. Im Loriel, the mage assigned to Disas team. Are we headed back to Haven? Garret needs further treatment I did the best I could, but Im still learning a lot of things. This is my first field assignment, you know, and I only went through my Harrowing about a week before the Circles were dissolved, and-
Relax, kid, Varic told her, cutting her off in a kindly manner. Well get you all back to Haven. You can get cleaned up, healed, trained, re-equipped, whatever you need. I dont know what Hardings got planned for you, but I believe shell meet up with the scout teams at Haven so she can hand out new assignments.
Okaygood, Loriel replied slowly, taking a deep breath to relax as Varric had suggested. I need a new staff mines somewhere in the Mire, likely never to be found and my robes arent quite up to standard, Im sure.
Im sure either Threnn or Seggrit can fix you up with clothing and standard gear, Loriel, Varric suggested smoothly. For the staff, thoughyou might want to talk to Harrit instead, see if his people can help with the staff, although you may also want to chat with one of the Inquisition mages about a new staff in case Harritt cant help Im not sure who we have, there. Mages who want to join the Inquisition are hard to come by.
Threnn or SeggritHarritt or otherwise ask a magegot it, the elven mage repeated carefully. Thank you.
Dont mention it, kid, Varric replied, and Loriel drifted towards the rear of the group as they slowly made their way out of the Fallow Mire.
gpt
Disa took his cloak back from Loriel, acknowledging her return of the cloak with a nod. The Mire was chilly and always damp, but he knew that Loriel was going t need some warmer gear if she was planning on spending any time in Haven. The temperatures there were freezing. Still, the trip wqould be long ewnough, especially with the wounded along for the ride, but Disa had no intention of leaving Garret behind. not after all that had gone on.
The Mire was long behind them. Disa sighed as they crossed the pass that led them towards Haven. It was comforting to some degree, seeing the base of operations, but still, if he was hoenst, he'd miss the Miree. It was enough like home to make him nostalgic. Still, the going had been faster than expected, but nto as fast as he'd have preferred. Still, the releif team had collected the scout team's stores, adn that left them enough food adn supplies to make the trip back as comfortable as possible. A few brief forays into the wild when they made camp had left Disa with enough time to bring in a little game, adding some much needed variety to their diet. A ram that he brought back had filled the stew pot well, and given him time to work on other projects. Cleaning and preparing the hide, the horns had been set aside, and he spent much of his night arranging the bones, as though trying to find a pattern to them that he could use. When asked by any of the party, Disa had gently rebuffed their interest, mostly because he had no idea what he was planning to do with them himself.
The party stepped through the gates of the wall, and Disa found himself standing before Harding, the dwarf looking at him expectantly, her arms crossed over her chest.
"Well sergerant? Report." She said flatly.
"Avvar contingent ma'am. Came for us. Outnumbered eight or ten to one. We made as good of an account of ourselves as we could, cut down a good number of them. Garret was wounded, and we lost Zander.Ilost Zander. With your permission, once I've seen to my team, and gotten everything squared here, I'll carry word to his family. He was my responsibility, and I let him down." Disa answered. Harding sighed.
"Disa, you're a soldier, and so was he. And no, you will not carry word to his family, becauseallof the scouts aremyresponsibility. Settle your people, see to the living. I'll take care of the dead." Disa sighed, but nodded.
"Yes ma'am."
"Anythign else you need to report on?" Disa looked back at Loriel, and then back at Harding.
"I'll need a new member for my team. Preferrably one with some experience. Otherwise, no."
"Dismissed Sergeant." Disa nodded, and walked away from Harding, heading for the tavern. He had the need to get a large tankard of ale in him before he worried about anything else.
Harding smiled at Loriel and let her arms drop to her sides.
"Sounds you had it pretty rough for your first time out. You all right?" She asked the elf.
human
The trip back to Haven didnt take as long as shed thought it might. Or maybe it only seemed that way. The couple of weeks it took seemed to go by quickly, although Loriel found herself kept busy largely between looking after Garret, talking with Garret, and talking with Varric. The dwarf, in particular, was always good for a chat, it seemed, and he had plenty of tales to tell. Loriel wasnt sure just how much of the tales was truth and how much was embellishment, but they all sounded good. She didnt have much to do with Sera the elven woman didnt seem to want to do much with the dalish mage, and a lot of her chatter seemed to be filled with negative comments and snide remarks, something Loriel was happy to avoid. When they got to the Hinterlands they were taken to the Crossroads, and there Varric and Sera left them; they had to re-join the Heralds party, and another Inquisition team would get them to Haven. Still, the Hinterlands seemed like heaven compared to the Mirecompared to Haven. At least Disas cooking was edible and palatable.
Havenwhile southern Ferelden was generally cool, and the mire cool and wet, Haven was just cold. Up in the Frostbacks, nestled snugly between a couple of low peaks, the place was almost permanently covered in snow, it seemed. Yet there were people everywhere, and more coming in. Not that Loriel had time to enjoy the sights, as it were Disa had taken his team straight to Harding to report. For a moment, Loriel thought he was going to ask for her to be assigned to a new team, but he didnt just asked for a replacement for Zander. Then he was gone, heading for the tavern, she wagered, and she found herself face-to-face with Harding.
I suppose my first field trip could have been better, the elf admitted slowly, gently rubbing at her cheek. The bruising had faded, leaving only a faint smudge, and it no longer felt sore or tender. She hadnt bothered applying healing magic to herself, although she could have. It was a reminder to herself of her need to improve. Im okay, now, but earlier She paused, then sighed. Ill be okay. It was a rough trip. I dont know what I was expecting, but that certainly wasnt it. Ill get better.
Harding smiled faintly and nodded. Good to hear it. Looks like you need some new gear, too?
It surprised Loriel a little that the dwarven woman wasnt being as hard or formal with her than she had been with Disa. She nodded again.
Yesthese robes are all right for wearing in a tower, and on the road, but theyre not made for proper field work. Ill also need to get a new staff, if we can find one for me.
Harding raised an eyebrow slightly, then nodded sharply. Go see Seggrit for new robes. Weve got a few mages on board since you joined Disas team, and he and Threnn had worked with them to come up with what theyre calling a Battlemage outfit. Check it out. If Seggrit gives you grief about payment, tell him Ill kneecap him if he doesnt hand something over to you. The staffcheck with Harrit in the smithy out the front. A couple of the new mages brought some designs with them, so he may be able to help you build a new staff using those and the resources the teams have been collecting along the way.
Loriel smiled the first smile shed really felt for a while. I will. Thank you, Harding.
The dwarf smiled. Dont mention it, Loriel. She turned and took a couple of steps away, then stopped and turned to face Loriel. Ohweve also picked up a few Templar and Templar recruits. Just thought Id warn you; they may give you the evil eye for being a mage outside Chantry control.
Loriel flushed and nodded her understanding. Thanks for the warning. Ill try to not take it personally.
I think youll do just fine, Loriel, Harding noted, then turned and wandered off towards the Chantry building.
Loriel watched the dwarven Lead Scout walk away, then she smiled and looked around to get her bearings. Haven was crowded, bustling, and filled with all sorts: elves and humans and dwarves, men and women, Templars and warriors and rogues and the occasional mage. The Inquisition was nothing if not home for any who wanted to join its cause; Loriel knew that if she was ever going to call a place Home, the Inquisition would be her most likely chance.
First, thougha little shopping. She didnt have a lot of coin on her, and she just had to hope Seggrit wasnt given to charging high prices
gpt
The ale went down smoothly. Disa wasn't paying much attention to the other patrons at the moment, just wanting the cold, refreshing taste of fermented hops to soothe out the lingering feelings of the mission. There was a word that one might use to describe his contribution to the task. Useless. Actually, less than useless, as his rescue had become a mission for the Inquisition. There were countless ways of looking at this logically, but none of them appealed to him for the moment. Right now all that came to mind was that he was one of the most experienced members of the scouting teams, and he'd still managed to create a complete fiasco. He set his tankard down, and stood up, leaving a sovereign on the counter to cover the cost, and heading out into the cold again.
He took a deep breath, the sharp bite of hte cold still feeling good to him. It wasn't home, but it was better than most places had been. Snow crunched underfoot, making it hard to miss his passage. There were innumerable ways to move quietly in this kind of weather and terrain, Disa knew most of them, but they weren't needed or appropriate at this point. SKulking around Haven was likely to get him quesrioned. Or shot t by some of the more paranoid guards.
The gate opened easily for him, letting him emerge into the cacophony of noise that was the training grounds. Disa picked out a few of the notable people in the mass of sparring fighters. Standing on the fringe of it all, was the Commander. CUllen would never be mistaken for anyone else to Disa. Cullen wore his past like a cloak around his shoulders. Ramrod straight, a soldier to the core. When he walked, the way he picked his moves without conscious thought betrayed the training that the Templars had given him, as was the way he instructed a warrior on the way to hold his shield. Disa smiled as he watched. The soldiers were coming along, they'd make reasonable fighters for the cause. He mentally picked out a few that seemed to be pushing themselves, ones that weren't followig hte standard training. These were the ones that He'd recommend co-opted into the scouting teams. Better to see that individuality nutured, not ignored or crushed.
Disa moved on.
He found Harrit supervising work on weapons and armour. As Disa stepped up, he pulled his pack from his shoulder.
"Disa. Good of you to come by. Anything for me?" Harrit asked. Disa opened his pack, and began to unload trhe contents.
"We were sidetracked, adn I couldn't get everything I wanted. But this should help some." Disa answered. Harrit was checking through the pile that was set out, adn nodded.
"Antler. A lot of antler. And some long bones. We can use these, so no problem Disa. Thank you. What can we do for you?"
"I'm all right for gear right now. But my team isn't. Can you use some of my credit towards them?"
"Of course! Who needs what?"
"Garret needs armour. Something better than the leathers he has. And the mage needs a staff." Harrit nodded.
"The Herald just got ahold of some good plans for some gear. We can whip a few things up I think. How do you want it?"
"Up to her. She should probably be by to talk to you about it." Disa nodded, adn backed away, letting Herrit start to lay out some material options for the eventual work he'd have. Disa flagged down a runner, and sent him off to find Loriel, and let her know that Harrit would be waiting for her to come down to get a staff built. Disa, on the other hand, started to head out into the cold, looking for some of hte scattered materials that were out there. He wanted to keep himself busy for now. Time enough to raise a drink for the fallen later, when the rest of his team was in better shape.
human
Once Harding had gone on her way, Loriel finally allowed herself to look around. She realised, to her annoyance and some caution, that she was standing near where soldiers regular troops and former Templars alike were performing drills, sparring with each other in a respectful but fevered manner. There were tents all around, easily big enough for three of four to sleep. She shivered slightly as the cold seeped through her almost-useless robes; theyd served her well in the Tower, theyd done a reasonable job in the Mire, theyd manager to continue serving on the trip back to Havenbut now her robes were nearing the end of their useful life. Standard mage robes had never been designed with extensive travel or wear-and-tear in mind.
At last the blacksmith was easy enough to find; just follow the stead column of smoke from the forge that was accompanied by the near-constant ringing of hammer striking metal. As she started towards the smithy, she noticed a couple of the soldiers stopped their training and glared at her she knew instinctively that they were Templars, watching her every move. They looked so different, sonormal, without their plate armour and full-faced helms, and yet the attitude remained the same. She gave them a wide berth as she continued on her way. She thought she saw Disa leaving the smithy as she drew near, but the man was gone before she got there. She approached a stocky human with a large floppy moustache and stopped a couple of paces from him, speaking only when she had his attention.
Ummmhi, she began awkwardly, not sure how else to address the man now regarding her expectantly. I-Im from Disas scouting team. I need a new staff, and Harding said-
Youd be the one called Loriel, then, he butted in, his voice rustic and matter-of-fact. Disa said youd be by. Harding left word, too. Good people, those two. What dyou need?
Aa staff, Loriel repeated. Mine the one I had is somewhere at the bottom of a bog in the Fallow Mire. Dropped it when I She paused, then sighed. I just need a replacement. Can you help me?
Harritt smiled faintly. Weve all got stories we dont want to tell, he agreed softly, before gesturing to a large workbench. Picked up a few designs from scouting teams. The Herald brought a few more back. Weve got materials in from the field, and a few staff shells brought in by some circle mages. Looks to me like you grab a shell, choose a core and sealer, fit a grip and blade to it, and youll be good to goafter a bit.
Loriel nodded slowly. While she hadnt studied staff construction, shed heard a few things as rumours. Im sure Ill be able to work something out, she agreed carefully. Theres just the matter of payment. I dont have a lot of coin right now, but Im sure I can-
Disas got that covered already, Harritt informed her, cutting her off again. Dont worry about that. Pay him back if you have to pay anyone.
Isee, the young mage noted, a touch reluctantly. She didnt really want to be indebted to the large warrior, but there was nothing for it, now. Thank you, Harritt.
Dont mention it, the smith replied dismissively. You finish your design, and one of my boys will fix it up for you. With that, the smith was gone, heading to a nearby anvil so he could bark instruction to an apprentice.
Loriel turned her attention to the bench. Scrolls of parchment were rolled up by the rear of the bench, neatly organised for each of retrieval. Shed be a fool to make a mess here. She pulled a few designs for staves out, flicked through them until she found one she liked. Shed always favoured electricity as her energy type, and iron was plentiful at the moment. Cotton to seal the ends of the staff. For the gripa long leather one, made of canine hide and wrapped with cotton again. The blade...drakestone gave it a dark-red hue to match the colour of the wood, and bound with bear hide. It would do. She took the design and materials list to the smithy and found on of the apprentices ready to help out.
It took some time, over an hour, but the staff was finally ready and handed to the young mage. Others had come and gone, maybe even Disa, but Loriel had been focussed on the construction of her staff. She took it was great thanks, held it carefully in her small hands. She could feel the power in it, could feel some added confidence in her ability while holding it. The grip was firm, the blade crafted just rightand she smiled, genuinely smiled. She felt like a mage again. She slung it over her shoulder, the mystical strapping appearing as needed so that the weapon could be slung as required. The sun was dipping lower on the horizon, and she still had not replaced her robes. She had to find Seggrit before the merchant closed up for the night.
The merchant was getting ready to pack up by the time Loriel found him. Perhaps fortunately, the prospect of one more sale gave him cause to remain openuntil her heard what Loriel was after.
I run a business, not a charity, he complained grumpily. If it wasnt for that Harding, and the Inquisition subsiding you mages He grumbled softly. Come on, lets see what we can get for you.
Harding had been right, at least there was an outfit Seggrit referred to as the Inquisition Battlemage. It was quite sturdy and functional: a long jacket and pants, and pockets everywhere; a strong belt around the waist, with multiple loops for potions and pouches, sturdy boots and gloves she tried it on, and while it wasnt sized exactly for a slender elf such as herself, it still fitted her quite well. She wasnt the first to wear one, Seggrit noted, but she was only one of a half-dozen so far. It wasnt too heavy, but it was heavy enough that it kept the cold of Haven out. The transaction was completed, and Loriel left the merchant to pack his wares away.
As she walked towards the Chantry building it was the only building large and comfortable, even if she didnt believe in Andraste or the Maker Loriel smiled to herself. Finally, she felt like she belonged herealthough convincing Disa of the same might be a bit more tricky.
gpt
It was dark out by the time Disa made his way back to Haven proper. He had found a few lumps of iron to break free, and a wealth of elfroot. He passed the elfroot off to the quartermaster, before delivering the iron right to Harritt. The smith nodded his thanks, and Disa knew that he had likely bumped up his account with the smith. Disa looked around to find Garret leaning against the fence that sat beside the forge. He crossed tot he scout.
"Surprised you're standing. Thought the healers would want you on bed rest." Disa observed.
"They did. Can't sit still sir. And I hear that you're helping to equip poor bastards like me." Garret observed with a strained smile. Disa nodded.
"I am. You clearly need better armour. Also maybe an upgrade in weapons."
"Wouldn't say no sir. But try to keep it light? I still need to be able to move quickly when the need arises."
"Agreed. Come on, let's have a look at what they have laid out, and we'll go from there."
Garret spoke to Harrit, explaining his preferences for weapons. A sword in one hand, a shorter blade int he other. Disa added in some recommendations, after seeing Garret in action. Materials were selected, and work began on the sword first.
Harrit spent most of his time overseeing the work fo the staff, but every now and then, he stepped up to keep his hand in and make a work on his own. And this time was one of them. The forge blazed with heat as the bellows worked, and Harrit lifted the ingots of metal. There hadn't been enough of the highest wuality metal, Paragon's Luster, on hand for a full blade, but there was enough to alloy into another material, improving the quality of it. Harrit hammered out each of the three ingots, two of iron, one of Luster, and then set them in a stack. The pile was put back into the forge, adn left ot heat. Garret watched in fascination, never having seen this kind of work done. Disa only smiled, but leaned back against the fence, folding his arms. It was something worth watching.
Harrit came back to the billet, one hand sprinkling a modest amount of sand onto the metal. The forge hissed at the action, but Disa knew that the type of sand being used would help keep the air out of the metal, ensuring a tighter weld. Harrit drew the billet out, and went to work, hammering the billet into a single solid bar of fused materials. With a nod, he drew out a hot-cut tool, and hammered it through the still glowing metal. He folded it over, and hammered it tight once more, placing it back in the coals. He repeat the process several times, layering up the metal repeatedly. After five such folds, there were nearly a hundred layers of metal in hte blade, and Disa nodded his approval. A fine blade indeed. Once that was finished, Harrit began to work on the swoard in earnest, stretching out the bar to a proper length. It was as wide as Garret's palm, and the length of both his forearms combined. There was a subtle curve that Harrit was working into the design, as per the recommendations offered. The tang of the blade was thick and heavy, making sure the blade would have a solid foundation. The bevels were hammered in, providing a good start to the cutting edge. Harrit placed the blade back on the coals, allowing it to heat up. He worked the blade in the coals, making sure the heat was distributed evenly. When he drew it out, he pluncged the blade into a barrel of oil. Heat simmered off of hte barrel, and the steady glow of hte blade faded. When harrit drew it back out, the blade was quenched and hardened. A quick inspection showed it to be free of warping or cracks. He handed it off to an apprentice for grinding to proper size. Harrit took up much smaller amounts of the same material, and began to work on the dagger that would be the twin of the blade.
Garret looked at one of the other craftsmen, seeing how they set out a much smaller amount of metal, Serpentstone this time, was laid out. This man set out to forge the hilt of the blade, making sure that it would fit Garret's hand easily. The design had been copied from some of the better established raiders in hte area, making a functional and effective hilt with little to no flash. Once it had been heated, the serpentstone had an almost golden hue to it, not as lustrous as bronze, but far harder. The sword was brough over from the grinding area of hte forge, and the hilt was fitted on. The end of hte tang was peaned over, forming it tightly to the blade. Garret held it, testing the feel of the blade. It was lighter than expected, but moved easily and smoothly. He nodded, and passed it back tot he craftsman. There was till a fair amount of work to be done on it, needing to be finshed on hte grind, adn etched properly. But there had been enough work done that Garret coudl retire back to his bunk in the infirmary. Disa nodded to Harrit, and walked away.
Disa used some of the credit he'd accumulated with Seggrit from some of his other trades to make sure that a set of Hunters Mail would be sent to Garret, despite the grousing of the merchant. Disa looked around Haven, taking in the low amount of activity since night had fallen. While he knew that he could find a place to rest outside of hte camp, he had some business to attend to with Harding. If she was in the village, she'd likely be in the Chantry, meeting with the upper command staff. The walk to the largest building in the village wasn't a long, one, and he ahd to marvel at the chantry. It was a spectacular waste of resources in his opinion. With the amount of stone and lumber that had gone into the place of worship, they could have errected a defensive wall to keep the place safer, and housed more people comfortably. Among his own people, they needed no places of worship like this. They carried what faith they had in their hearts, adn lived their faith. No sense in affirming that faith to others. You were square with your Gods, or you were not. Nothing would change that besides your own wishes.
He entered the building, stomping his feet to shake the snow from them. He'd been needlessly lectured on doing so by several of the Chatry sisters, and he had no desire to repeat the process. He cast his eyes around, picking out the people that stood to conduct their business, and picked out Loriel moving across the floor. She looked different in her new armour, much more...practical. As though she might actually be ready for the field this time. He crossed the floor swiftly, and nodded to her as he came closer.
"Mageling. I see you managed to find some better tools for the tasks at hand." He observed. "Harrit didn't give you any trouble about the staff, did he?"
human
She hadnt realised Disa was nearby until she heard his voice from almost on top of her. It started her a little, but not too much she hoped. The Chantry building was warm enough, and provided some comfortenough that the elements were kept completely at bay, here; she did feel a little out of place, though, given she followed the Elvehn gods, and not the Maker of the humans. Indeed, Loriel had realised that shed been offering a small prayer to June when shed been working on her staff. And no-one here had given her any grief about it; there was even a murmured comment about Loriel being a bit like Solas whoever that was. Shed heard Varric and Sera talk a little about him on the journey from the Mire to the Hinterlands, but had never met him thus far.
She turned slightly to face Disa. In a way, it was a relief to see that he had barely changed since theyd returned. She hadnt been specifically looking for him, but here he was.
No, she replied, shaking her head slowly. None at all. He was quite good about it, in fact. Didnt seem to have any trouble with me being a mage. He just pointed me to a bench, told me to find a design I liked and materials to build it, and to take it all to one of his boys to help construct it. I suppose making a staff is a bit more involved than making a sword swords dont channel magical energy, not normally. I know blades and bows can be enchanted to do that, but staves do it by design, and-
She stopped, flushed slightly, then let her head drop slightly. Sorry, she offered apologetically. I didnt mean to go on like that. She stopped and took a deep breath to slow her down. The armour such as it is fits well enough. Its certainly utilitarian and functional, and I seem to have good mobility in it. Its good to have a staff I made, too it feels more like mine. I guess you know what thats like with your sword.
The young made lifted her had to look into Disas eyes. Iif you still want me in your team, Im ready to go out. I know Im still learning, but I will get better.
gpt
Disa fought a smile at her words about the complexity of a staff. It was an easy assumption for a mage to make, not likely having much experience with blades.
"There is mroe to a sword than you might think Mageling. Ask Harrit about it sometime. Or get a good long look at the new blades that Garret will have." He point out to her, not trying to comment on her small ramble. He'd known worse crimes for a person to commit.
"A weapon is never really yours until you've really put it through it's paces. Once you've used it in battle, taken a life with it...then it's truly yours." he said with an air of calm, almost an edge of reverence to the words, as though it was a creed of some kind, something that he held close to his heart. The air of enthusiasm that she had for things made him think of someone else, someone long gone to him. He paused, closing his eyes, shaking off the memory, the wave of feelings that came with them, pushing them to the side, burying htem under the simmering anger that was always there in his mind. The byproduct of what he'd done to become who he was.
"You had best continue to get better. I demand no less than that from anyone on my team. You stop learning, you start dying." He said with a firm nod. He quirked a smile, the kind that he offered to someone that needed to know that he did indeed have a sense of humour. "Besides. If I got you transferred out now, I risk gettign someone even more useless, and who needs that aggravation?" He winked as he finished, and then paused. He reached high on his torso, and found the sheath and strap that held one of hte antler daggers that he'd made in the Mire, and tossed it to her. "Keep it close. Never know when an extra knife could be helpful." The weapons wasn't long, the blade maybe the length of Loriel's hand. The had a rough set of quilions, made byt the spreading tines of the antler. While the edges were sharpened, it looked to be a much better suited stabbing weapon. Fire harened, and oiled to make sure it stayed true, it was a surprisingly effective weapon given the more primitive materials that had gone into it.
human
For a moment, Loriel was a little confused it seemed as though Disa was trying to make an effort to be vaguely personable with her. That wasunusual. Certainly nothing in her admittedly-limited experience with him had thus-far suggested he would hold anything but barely-disguised contempt for her. That he was talking lightly with her, winking at hergiving her one of his weapons as a back-up to her staffit was all verydifferent. She wasnt sure what to do with it. Sure, there was the backhand compliment about having to find someone more useless, that fit in with her general perception of him, but the rest was unusual.
Thank you, she finally offered quietly, as she took the blade in one of her small hands. Her eyes looked at him, a touch quizzically, as she tried to figure out how to proceed. The dagger felt more foreign in her hand than her staff had when shed first taken it. The dagger was light, sure, and she had no doubt the blade would do some serious damage to a person, butshe had no idea how to use it effectively, at least not for fighting. She slipped the sheath inside her belt at her hip; shed secure it to her belt later. Ill try to be worthy of the gift. Thats what it was, she knew; it was evident in the way hed spoken.
I was scared, you know, she continued after a few moments of silence, her voice now noticeably quieter than before. Of you, of my magic, of being out of the Circleof people relying on my skills and my magic. When my clan sent me on my way, I was scared. I was eight at the time. I knew very little at the time, barely enough to survive, but I somehow managed. Then Templars found me, and I was scared. I was taken to the Circle, and I was scared. Ive been scared most of my life, since I came into my magic.
She paused, then sighed. Why was she admitting this to him? He didnt deserve to hear her fears, he wasnt worthy of that trust.
But here, in the InquisitionIm starting to feel like I actually might belong somewhere. Im not going to waste this opportunity.
gpt
She was offering some insight into herself, and that was a different thing to Disa. Most people didn't bother, they assumed that he didn't care and had no interest in knowing them farther than was needed to get the job done. That wasn't always true, or, if he was being honest, even often. He held faith with his people, and would fight to keep them safe. The better he knew them, the more likely he was to know their limitations. He cocked his head as she finished explaining how often she was afraid of things. And it was a lot.
"Think on this Mageling. Courage, real bone deep courage, isn't an absence of fear. It is the conquest of it. Being afraid of things you don't fully understand, things you might be struggling to control, isn't a weakness. It's sensible. It's only a weakness if you let that fear control you. Keep that in your mind. ANd if anyone tells you that they have no fear at all...they're either lying to you, or unhinged enough you should keep your distance." Disa offered.
That she was settling into the Inquisition was a good thing. On some level anyway. Disa wasn't sure what the future might hold, whether the Inquisition would endure beyond the hole in the sky, the Breach, or if once the purpose was completed it would disband, throwing the members to the winds. He opted not to voice that line of thought.
"Having a purpose is a powerful thing. Having a purpose that means something to the rest of the world, even more so. We're making a difference with this job." He paused before speaking again. "Youare making a difference in this job."
human
She listened as he spoke. There was a certain wisdom in his words, she recognised that but putting that wisdom into practice wasnt so easy. Learning how to overcome to best her fears wasnt going to be easy. True, she wasnt scared of so many things now, but there was likely more to come. One of those fears had turned into a mixture of hate and contempt the feelings for her own magical ability. Shed been afraid of her magic at first, even though shed been quite comfortable with Keeper Shilleis magic: watching the Keeper use magic was one thing; having magic of your own was something completely different, especially when it caused you to be exiled from your home and family. Ten years in the Circle hadnt managed to teach her to appreciate her own ability.
Her ears pricked up, though, at his last comment, and she turned her gaze on him, searching his face to see if that was another back-handed compliment hed just given her. It didnt seem to be; he appeared to be giving her a genuine compliment, or at least an honest appraisalthere didnt seem to be any hidden insult at all. She felt her cheeks flush slightly as she cast her gaze towards the floor.
Well, Ithank you, she mumbled quietly, not used to hearing positive words from him. I try; Ill keep trying. Thats all I can do. She paused, mulling over her thoughts for a few seconds. Should she tell him?
What confuses me, thoughis just how I learned those last two spells I used in the fight, she admitted. Its as if Dirthamen himself justrevealed the knowledge to me, exactly when I needed it. I didnt really know those spells existed until I cast them, expended the will to create the magical patterns and energy necessary. II dont know how I knew to do what I did. She returned her gaze to him, this time a curious expression on her young face.
I suppose that means Im growingbut what am I growing into? She didnt expect hed have an answer, but it felt better having asked the question.
gpt
Disa shrugged at her words about having divine aid. He wasn't against the idea of her getting some kind of aid in that regard, but he had seen the effect of some that claimed to channel the divine through them. It usually ended poorly.
"You're growing into an Elf. An elf mage that some might have called 'apostate' once upon a time, but you're doing it in ways that very well might have been used before we decided that mages all needed to be taught a certain way. Keep this up and you might wind up being a member of my team that I can respect. Maybe even buy a drink for at some point. Until then, keep yourself alive. And get some rest. Can't say that we'll be back in Haven long enough to get a good night's sleep very often, so enjoy it while you can. Oh, and here." He tossed a wound bundle of hides at her. There were a few wooden poles in the middle of it, marking it as a likely tent. "No sense in you not being ready for expeditions. And the Gods know we can't trust Seggrit to keep you supplied. Get some practice setting that up and taking it down again. You'll want to be able to set up and break camp quickly." With that, Disa gave her a smile and a nod, and took his leave.
Disa gave himself a shake outside of the Chantry building. It was easy to fall inito a state of comfort around Loriel, there were reminders there of a time long past, adn he wasn't eager to revisit that line of thinking. He had too much work to do. With that thought, he set off.
Disa shifted his weight, finding another handhold on the cliff face. He'd yet to find a bluff he couldn't climb, and he wanted ot have a place to sleep with a good range of vision to the village. He pulled himself up again, finding himself on the top. He could see the field of tents that belonged to the general soldiery, knowing that most of the higher ups would be sleeping warm adn dry in the Chantry, or in the smaller cabins near it. The noted exception would be the Commander. Cullen was frequently seen pacing the grounds after training, speaking to the soldiers, getting to know his people. Templar or not, Disa had to respect him. He sighed, adn turned to setting up his tent. It was getting to be chilled enough that he was looking forward to some sleep. He knew he'd have to see what recruits Harding had for him in the morning. Hopefully someone with some experience. With that thought, he let himself drift to sleep.
human
It was tempting to make some smart-arse comment as Disa talked about respecting her, but Loriel bit the idea off quickly, before the words could form in her mouth. He had just given her what could be considered a compliment, and maybe some praise, and she wasnt going to ruin it by being a smart-arse. The idea alone that he was being nice to her was surprising enough. As the young mage watched the hulking warrior walk away, she wondered whether Disa wasnt actually starting to appreciate her, just a little bit.
Then there was the tent hed passed to her. It looked as awkward as anything else shed tried or seen. A mass of stitched-together hides, a few poles to hold it up, a few ropes to tie it down and stop it being blown away by the first breath of wind that came her waywasnt there something easier? And how was she supposed to carry it? Tucked up under her arm wasnt going to work for more than a few hundred feet, nevermind the miles they might travel together. At least the poles looked crafted such that they could be pulled apart and put back togetherthat might make it a little easier to carry once she figured out how.
She walked away from the camp a little, a bit away from the main thoroughfare, so she could have a go at setting up her tent, to see if she could manage it and not have it fall on top of her. It wasnt easy; just unwinding the bundle and getting all the bits and pieces out took her a few minutes. Then she juststood and looked at it, as if she was trying to work out a puzzle which she was, in truth. Shed just started to make some sense of it when a voice, soft and gentle and wise, spoke from just behind her.
You will learn by doing it, not by looking at it, the voice said. Loriel turned quickly to see another elf, a man, standing near her, watching her. Like her, he carried a staff; unlike her, he was dressed in simple clothes, almost rags by comparison to her new battlemage outfit.
Andaran atishan, young one, the man continued, his voice filled with serenity. I am called Solas. If the rumours are true, you are the mage that recently returned from the Fallow Mire with Sera and Varric, yes?
Loriel blinked slowly. Andaran atishan, Solas, she replied politely. I am called Loriel. There are rumours about me already?
Solas chuckled quietly. Not many. It was known that a couple of Inquisition teams had been lost or captured in the Mire; the Herald and a few companions went to ensure that none of the Inquisition were lost for any longer than necessary. I am glad to see that you are unharmed.
Not completely unharmed, Loriel admitted grudgingly. We lost a member of our squad, and I took a solid punch to the head. I have fully recovered, however, and I have discovered I learned more than I thought I might.
Then the trip would be considered a partial success, Solas ventured. The loss of a life is always regrettable, but the instruction gained is always valuable.
I suppose we can agree on that, Loriel replied slowly. Youyoure a mage as well?
Solas nodded. Yes. Like you, I am an apostate. Like you, I joined the Inquisition of my own free will, although I suspect my motives for doing so are far different to yours.
Loriel tilted her head in curiosity. Why do you think I joined of my own will?
Solas smiled faintly. You have a tent, you have a weapon, and you are not in chains or under guard. That suggests you are not here against your will.
Fair enough, Loriel conceded. As youve likely been here longer than meany suggestions?
Watch the people around you, Loriel, Solas offered sagely. Learn from them. Mind their words and actions, but make your own choices. Ultimately you will succeed or fail from your own decisions, not from those around you.
Sound advice, Loriel agreed after a few moments of thought. Thank you, Solas.
Not at all, young one, he replied. But for now, I shall take my leave and let you resolve the puzzle of the tent.Dareth shiral, Loriel.
Dareth shiral, Solas, Loriel agreed, bowing her head politely. With that, the other mage turned and departed casually. Loriel watched the other elf depart, then returned to the puzzle of the tent.
It took her a couple of hours and several attempts to get the hang of setting it up and pulling it down. Eventually she thought she had it worked out, and took a turn at sleeping in it. It wasnt as bad as shed feared.
gpt
Morning came soon enough to Haven. Disa emerged from his own tent, looking out at the glittering field of white that was stretched out before him. It had snowed a little, not a huge amount, but enough to coat most of the outside region with fresh snow. There were still some patrols, a few camp fires still burning, but most of Haven was quiet. It was a rare moment, and he valued that more than he might admit. There was precious little quiet in the midst of civilized folks, and despite it's rarity, they all seemed incapable of valuing it.
Disa gave himself a slight shake. He ahd to stop himself sometimes from idealizing his own people. They were some of hte loudest and most aggressive people in all of Thedas, they had little use for silence unless they were hunting. At rest or camp they were anything but silent. He let himself smile. Time to get to work.
He was most of hte way past the camp when he heard a faint throat clearing. He turned to the sound, seeing one of the only forms that was larger than himself.
"Silverfire." Iron Bull, the resident Qunari warrior acknowledged simply.
"Bull. Something I can do for you?" Disa asked in an equal tone. There was a faint tension between the two of them. Disa had shared a few drunken nights with the Bull's Chargers, and a few more with Iron Bull himself, and anyone who knew them both had expected them to be fast friends. But it wasn't quite to be.
"Does there need to be? Maybe I just wanted to say hello."
"Doubtful. What is it your masters want to know?" Iron Bull let out a sigh.
"Not everything I see and hear goes back to my people Disa. Let's face it, not everything that happens here is nearly interesting enough to keep my handlers happy." Disa left his expression neutral. "Damn it man, we can both get drunk and revel through the night, kill our enemies, but why can't you trust me even a little?" Disa felt himself smile a moment.
"Because I come from a people that still remember yours. Not every clan can trace itself back to when the Kossith were in the Korcari Wilds, but mine can. We remember your people, we recall them then, and we recall each and every time you've come to try and enforce your Qun on the rest of us. And you acknowledge to be Ben-Hassrath. I believe that you are here to help. But I also believe you will betray us in an instant if it better serves your people or you are ordered to do so. So I will buy you an ale from time to time in honour of your fighting. But I will not share anything with you I would not share with an enemy." Disa explained. Iron Bull looked at him with a strange expression on his face. It was hard to say what was going through his mind, Qunari were hard to read. Some called them Ox-men, which Disa felt was unfair. After all, an Ox-man would at least be half a man. The Qunari were inhuman to the core.
"Good luck on your next mission Disa. It's going to get more dangerous from here." Bull answered quietly.
"It always does. Good luck to you in most of your endeavours Iron Bull." Neither man spoke again as DIsa took his leave, heading into Haven proper.
It didn't take long for him to find what he was looking for. A quick meal, and one of the other scouts. Saren was his name, an older man in his late forties, but one of hte best warriors with a spear that Disa had met. If Lorilei was going to risk getting caught in close in battle, then it would pay off to make sure that she knew how to use the more mundane aspects of her staff.
Disa looked out at the various tents, finding the one most likely to be hers. It had the look of a tent that had not been set up many times before. It would hold for normal day to day use, but it would never stand up to heavy winds or even heavy snow. He kicked the leading tent string, popping it loose from it's peg, and sending the tent tumbling in on it's occupant.
"Rise and shine Mageling. There's work to be done today." He announced in a calm voice, fighting a smile on his face.
human
She heard footsteps around her tent that was the first she knew of her awareness of her surroundings. Had she slept much? Hard to know. Loriel knew shed woken up a couple of times during the night, but had gone straight back to sleep. And there was now daylight filtering through the tent walls and roof. She stirred, groaned softly, stretched a little to try and ease some life back into wary muscles. Generallyshe felt rested. Could have been better, but definitely wasnt worse. She was unable to suppress the yawn as she pushed herself up on her elbows.
Through her tent walls the mage could see shadows moving around. Life was coming back to Haven again as people woke with the sun. She could hear general chatter, light laughter, someone whistling an unknown tune. The smells of cooking nearby slowly invaded her senses, caused her stomach to start grumbling with hunger. Her staff the one shed made herself was lying next to her on the floor of the tent. She blinked at it and rubbed her eyes to clear themthen she sighed to herself. Shed need to find Disa soon, see what was happening with their team, find out about their next-
ARRGH! What the!
Her cry of annoyance and confusion sounded exactly one second after her tent collapsed on top of her. Had she heard the sound of something being kicked right before her tent collapsed? Shed certainly heard words, though. She couldnt remember, and wasnt in a position to try it. Instead she scrambled to try and find the tent opening, her arms pushing the material away as she struggled to sit, then kneel, and then orient herself with where she knew the tent flaps to be. It took her a few moments before she found what she was looking for. She pushed her head and shoulders through the opening and looked up, her eyes squinting slightly in the sudden light. Fortunately shed slept in her tunic and a set of light pantsshe wasnt revealing anything she might not have wanted to.
You! What was that for? She wasnt angry, justshe didnt know. Disa actually seemed to be in a good mood, and that knowledge alone seemed to take the edge off her own annoyance. Althoughwas he in a good mood? Hard to tell. He wasnt smiling, but then she didnt suppose he ever did smile. Her expression was equally not angry, although, as she knelt in the middle of the pile of material that was her tent and peered up at the large warrior, there was no small amount of puzzlement on her features.
gpt
Disa still had a smile on his face as he watched the fallen tent thrash around as she tried to extricate herself from the mess that the fallen tent left her in. It didn't take her all that long to pull herself into the stark light of the morning, He could ahve done worse to her, collapsed it more awkwardly onto her, but he'd kept it simple. This was a lesson in some ways, anything else would just be malice, and he didn't feel it needed at this point in time. When she managed to get herself out, she demanded answers from him, though seemed to be taking it better than some might have assumed.
"It got you out here quickly, didn't it?" Disa asked idly, raising his brows to the question, accentuating the words. "And consider it a small lesson. I only had to flick the cord with my foot to send the whole tent tumbling in on you. More practice into setting it up would be a good plan." He advised. Soren was looking into the sky, seeming to ignore all the conversation between Disa and Loriel. Whether it as out of respect or disinterest, Disa didn't know, and it didn't really matter.
"Mageling, this is Saren. He's one of the best spearmen in the Inquisition, and he's agreed to try and see what he can teach you about fighting with your staff when you're not working magic through it." Disa said by way of introduction. Saren turned his gaze back to Loriel, and cocked his head, looking her over as he seemed to be appraising her. Whatever his thoughts, he didn't wear them on his face to be picked out easily.
"Get some food in you. Breakfast. COme back here, and I'll put you through some paces, drills. Get you up to speed." He said in a gruff, almost clipped tone. He seemed like someone used to having his instructions followed.
human
Greatanother person appearing to be disinterested in her existence. Loriel was starting to get used to the idea that being detached was just Disas way Garret had helped a lot with that concept but this Saren seemed to be cut from the same mouldor at least had been similarly absent when compassion and empathy was being allocated.
As Disa had spoken, the young mage had managed to extract herself from her small, crumpled tent without much difficulty. She knew Disa was largely right about her tent-setting skills, but shed never set one up before last night, so of course her first few efforts werent going to be anything ground-breakingshe let his observation slide. The tent lay in an unruly heap behind her as Disa introduced the newest member of the squad she was still a part of, and she was under no illusion, as Saren spoke in his gruff tone, that hed view her with as much regard as Disa had (and probably still did). Maybe being gruff and detached was just Sarens way as well. Loriel sighed softly as the spearman finished speaking and nodded her head slightlyalthough she was not going to be some weak city-elf who just followed instructions blindly.
Loriel, she introduced herself simply. But if youre anything like our sergeant, I expect youll not address me by name. Ill meet you back here after Ive eaten. She nodded her head again, curtly, then turned on her heel and headed off. The thought occurred, as she walked away, that she should have attended to her tent first, but shed now have to deal with that later.
For his part, the spearman merely raised his eyebrows at the mages words and departure. If other heads nearby had turned to watch the two interact, Saren gave no indication of noticing. He watched her departing form for a few seconds, then shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly as he turned and wandered casually through the rows of tents. Her tent was not his problem. Her skill with magic was not his problem. Her sill with her staff WAS his problem, however, as was her general attitude. Harding seemed to regard the young mage well enough, as did Garret; it was hard to know where their sergeant sat on the matter. He glanced briefly at Disa, then slowly made his way towards what passed for the training area, and proceeded to watch the troops that Commander Cullen was putting through basic drills. Hed catch up with the mage Loriel in a little while.
There was a small, makeshift mess area near the quartermasters tent, and the elven mage made her way towards it. Other Inquisition people were gathered loosely in the area, a lot of them, like herself, scouts from Hardings teams she could tell from their general attire and manner. She didnt really know any of them, though Loriel had joined the Inquisition and been allocated to Disas group within a couple of days of her arrival, and then the squad had been shipped out to the Fallow Mire a day or two after that. The young mage hadnt really had time to meet anyone of note. Therefore she was a little surprised to hear a deep and semi-familiar voice behind her and actually address her.
Sohow are you holding up, kid? You doing all right, now?
Loriel turned around and looked down to where the voice had come from, and found herself again facing the grizzled dwarf that had helped pull them out of the Mire. She smiled faintly and gave a slight nod of her head.
II think so, yes, she replied, a little uncertainly. Better than when we first met, definitely. She paused, then tilted her head to one side. It...its Varric, right?
The dwarf looked up slightly and nodded his head briefly. That I am, kid, he agreed lightly. Wasnt sure youd remember; there were times when you seemed to fade on us between the Mire and the Hinterlands.
Loriel snorted softly as she took a plate of basic hot porridge with a couple of slices of toasted bread. I had my moments, Im sure, she conceded quietly. That hit to the head was harder that I thought, and its not easy to heal yourself.
Ill have to take your word for that, kid, Varric noted drily. Were just happy that you pulled through.
Loriel nodded quickly as she made her way to a bench, the dwarf right behind her; he was apparently happy to join her for breakfast. Whos that big guythe one with the horns and the blue-grey skin?
Varric chuckled softly. Him? Thats The Iron Bull. Hes a qunari. Picked up him and his company, the Bulls Chargers, on the Storm Coast a little while ago. The dwarf paused to swallow a mouthful of porridge. And, yes, its The Iron Bull. I asked him about it once he likes the article at the front, makes him seem like hes not really a person, blah blah Me, I think hes a big softy under that rough exterior, but dont tell him I said that.
Loriel snorted and shook her head. Doubt Ill be getting that close to him to find out what hes really like, she observed between mouthfuls. Hardings going to put us back on the road soon, Ill wager. Once Disa gets the team filled, well be heading out. She took a bite of bread, chewed then swallowed, then sighs softly. I just have to work at being more useful than I was last time.
Just dont wear yourself out on the way to getting better, kid, Varric advised sincerely. By all means work on improving, but you wont help anyone if you burn yourself out on the way. He scraped the last of his porridge from his bowl and spooned it into his mouth. No good ever came from people being pushed too hard. You need to find that balance that lets you learn without stress. Not an easy task, I know.
Loriel smiled warmly at the dwarf. She was starting to genuinely like him, even if she wasnt sure the feeling was mutualalthough she doubted hed have joined her for breakfast if he found her repulsive. Thanks, Varric. For your company and your conversation.
The dwarf grinned and stood, taking his plate with him. Always happy to chat, kid. He moved to leave, then paused. Ohhave a chat with Solas, toomaybe Vivienne as well. Theyre both mages, although theyre very different types of mages. Im sure they can both give you some insight into how to improve your magic. With that, Varric bobbed his head politely and walked away.
Loriel was content to sit on her own for a few moments as she finished eating, then tidied up after herself and headed off to find Saren.
gpt
Disa smiled after Loriel's departure. She was finding that backbone of hers, and it was giving her a fair amount of snark. He appreciated that. No sense having someone on the team that couldn't hold their own off the battlefield as well as on it. Disa shook his head a moment, the flicker of memory coming to him, but he pushed it back. Never lettign himself go there, he couldn't, wouldn't, knew better. He could never forget it, but he'd not dwell on it. He and Saren traded a simple nod, adn moved on. Both men wanted to be places.
Disa was looking around at the various warriors, seeing if any of them might be earmarked for the scouts. After all, he needed a new archer of some kind, what witht he results of his last mission. The scouts did have something of a high mortality rate, the job being dangerous adn outside of normal support range. Disa paced along the training fields, seeing how the recruits were coming. Cullen knew his business, Disa had respect for the ex-Templar, more so than most other people that were around. He heard a few rapid strikes of a blade into a training dummy, and he walked to the sound. Most of hte recuits were working with other people, training in actual comabt. He expected to find some raw recruit, barely able to hold a sword working on a stationary target.
He was wrong.
He actually straightened his back instinctively as he saw the Seeker working on the dummy with swift precision, taking chips and slices of wood free from her target. She stepped back, wiping a thin layer of perspiration off fo her brow, noting that she had an observer.
"Is there something I might help you with?" She asked him, her tone suggesting that the answer might want to be in the negative. Disa bowed his head in a gesture of respect.
"No, my apologies Seeker. I did not mean to interupt, I was only admiring your form and precision." Disa answered as he raised his head to look her in the eye. She cocked her head as she looked at him, studying him.
"Have we met before?"
"Yes, once before, I delivered a report to yourself and Miss Leliana at Hardings request. I am a Sargeant in the scouts. Disa the Restles." She nodded her head, eyes flickering as she recalled the incident. Disa had to expect that there was very little that got past her, and that she forgot very little.
"Yes, I recall now. You were part of the team that was captured in the Mire. How is your team?" She asked, and while some might consider it to be concern for their wellbeing, he knew better. She was checking on an asset to the Inquisitiion. Task oriented, relentless, these were qualities that he could assign to the Seeker easily. He knew she wasn't without compassion, he'd seen some cracks here and there, but this wasn't one of those times.
"Recovering. The new one, the elf, is a bit rattled still I think. She might not know it yet, but I'll make sure she's settled before we go out again." He answered. She nodded in acknowledgement. There was a pause before she looked at the dummy.
"Did you wish to use this? Am I in your way?" Disa smiled at the thought.
"No. My weapon would likely rediuce the thing to kindling, and then no one would make use of it." She noted the flatblade, nodded again before she turned to walk away.
"Good luck out there." She said it simply, without any real effort behind it. It was a soldiers departure.
"And you as well Seeker." He replied. He watched her go, and then heard a faint chuckle from nearby.
"Something funny Saren?" Disa asked. The older man only smiled.
"I didn't know the angry driven ones with scars were your type." Saren answered.
"Reminds me of the girls back home is all, aside from the rampant faith in the Chantry and Maker." Saren nodded, still smiling at Disa.
"Got time for a little work, keep me in shape for when the elf gets here?" Disa nodded, unlimering his sword, and the two paced back to square off. A few of the recruits forms a rouggh circle, wanting to get a look at this.
Saren made a brief spin of his spear into a ready position. He scanned the edges of hte crowd, looking to see if what he was hoping for was present. He smiled, seeing Loriel starting to approach the field. He turned back to Disa. The two men came at one another quickly. Disa made a wide swing, using his sword ot try and keep reach on his opponent. Saren spun his spear, using it to shift the blade up slightly, letting it pass over him, and hammered hte butt into Disa's torso. The big man didn't flinch, dropping his pommel down at Saren. Teh other man spun away from Disa, swithcing his grip on his spear, stabbing out from a distance, using hte length of the spear. Disa bat it away, bore in hard after Saren. The smaller man gave ground, swinging his swpear in a wide arc to check Disa for a moment before the spear came to rest across his shoulders, jabbing it out at Disa quickly, each move meant to draw a response. Disa didn't bite at the bait, but did have to avoid the sarpened point as it came near him. Saren smiled, came closer, and Disa smiled.
The big man swept his foot forward, kicking a spray of snow into the air, making a wall of white to block any vision. Saren stabbed through it, guessing what Disa was attempting. He was wrong. Disa caught the spear in one hand, and heaved, pulling Saren through the snow and salmming a punch into his jaw, laying teh man out. There was some appreciative murmuring from the assembled recruits, and Disa helped his Saren back to his feet. He caught a glimpse of the Seeker from the very fringes of the ground, thought he might have caught the edges of a smile on her face as she turned to walk away. Disa put his attention back to the crowd, picking Loriel out, and nodding to her.
"Just in time Mageling! I'm sure that Saren is ready to start your lesson!" Disa told her. He also looked at the recruits. "And get back to work! There's a war going on!" He roared. The men snapped back to their tasks.
human
A small crowd had gathered in the area that was ostensibly used for training in martial talents. The Inquisition mages, few in number as they were, had no such area they could use for training, except to maybe leave the camp and travel a short distance into the mountains. It wasnt difficult to pick Disa out in the crowd, given that he stood nearly a head taller than most others around him; the question was, why was he in the middle of the group?
As she drew closer to the gathering she spotted a couple of other high-profile faces: the Seeker, Cassandra, was there, watching the middle of the gathering; also another, the Grey Warden known as Blackwall, standing at the rear of the crowd and eyeing proceedings critically. Loriel had had little to do with either person: Cassandra she avoided, the elven mage preferring to not keep the company of the hard-nosed woman; Blackwall she just had never taken the time to talk with, although his presence was reportedly just as formidable as Cassandras. Both were tough, no-nonsense types, skilled with their swords and shields; neither would have any real useful fighting instruction for the young mage.
It seemed that there was a fight occurring Disa and Saren? Thats what was going onthe pair were engaging in a bit of sparring, she realised. Why such drew the attention of a crowd, Loriel didnt know, but she wasnt about to try and get them to disperse and get back to their own training and duties. There was no denying the skill of either man, though Disa shed already seen fight in the Mire, and Sarens spear was apparently up to the task of holding back Disas blade. Instinctively, though, she knew that any stabbing actions would be wasted on her; she would be wielding a staff, not a speareven if the staff did taper to a point at the base, and not all staves were constructed like that.
Soon, though, the sparring session was ended, and Disa was calling for those gathered to disperseand then calling out to her? She sighed softly to herself; even with a small throng of folks around them, he couldnt help but address her by nicknameexpecting him to use her name in public would be just too much to ask, she supposed. She waited a few moments before approaching the pair, came to a stop a couple of paces from them.
Not a bad little display, I guess, she offered nonchalantly. Certainly it seemed to impress the people whod gathered. She paused as she turned to regard Saren. You do realise, of course, that your style wont fully work for me and my staff, dont you? The staff is not generally a stabbing weapon, and while my current staff does have a small blade at the end, it is not wise to assume that all staves are constructed that way.
Saren shrugged his shoulders slightly as his jaw worked to iron out the blow Disa had given him. In the end, Loriel, I dont care. If you cant stab, you cant stab. You can still block and swing, though, cant you?
Loriel blinked quickly. Saren had actually addressed her by name. Whether that was to just put her off, or an offer of some respect, she didnt know, but She stopped and chided herself she had to try and stop being so defensive. She simply nodded to his question.
Good enough, then, Saren noted, then gestured towards the rear of the training area. Shall we? Loriel simply nodded again, unlimbered her staff from her shoulders, held it loosely in her hand as she followed the spearman to a small area away from the soldiers that were engaging in their sparring drills.
gpt
Disa folded his arms, and stood waiting and observing. Saren had a good handle on dealing with Loriel already he had to admit. Cutting through any and all of her objections with quick and effective repoonses that didn't leave much room to argue was effective. Now that he was a little less...vehement in his issues with Loriel, Disa mighjt have to keep that in mind.
Saren looked at Loriel as she squared off.
"Widen your stance. Better balance that way." He suited actyions to words, spreading himself out some, and leaning a bit forward. He shifted his stance again, putting his choulder forward, narrowing his profile to Loriel. She wasn't stupid, nor inept, and she seemed to be catching on to match his approach easily enough. He moved her through some basic stances, some way to make sure that she knew what she was about. Rotations of her staff to deflect incoming thrusts, making sure she knew that if she was quick enough, a rotation of her staff could potentially deflect an arrow or thrown weapon, but such was risky if one didn't also simply try and avoid it.
Stances and blocks were worked on, the basics. At his prompting, Loriel whoed a few of hte motions she used to throw attacks from her staff. Once he'd seen that, he started to work on tailoring attacks and defences to flow from bolt of power to physical attack or defence as smoothly as possible, and there were quite a few good opportunities within that realm of motions.
When it came to attacking with the staff physically, Saren did show how to use the reach of her staff to it's best advantage, showing that she could strike from beyond the reach of most weapons, making her a good deal safer. Disa was also quick to point out that against foes that lacked much int he way of armour, simply ramming the end of her staff into someone's sternum wasn't likely to kill them, but it woudl certainly take a lot of the fight out of them.
So much of the staff work came down to it's length, and that a wide sweeping blow could still deliver a punishing blow, even from one as slight as Loriel.
They kept at it for most of hte day, Saren being relentless in his approach, even to the point that Disa seemed to be curios on it. When Saren finally called a halt tot he training, he had to plant his spear adn lean on it for balance, keeping himself up. Disa approached the man.
"Are you all right?" He asked.
"Getting old barbarian. Be fine." he took a deep breath of hte cold air, letting it refresh him a little, and then looked to Loriel.
"Keep practicing this, the excercises we startedshoudl be repeated at least once a day. Keep at them until they're second nature, until; you don't have to think about them." He told her.
human
The training session wasuseful, in a way. Also a bit informative. Loriel knew she had a long way to go, but she got a grasp on the basics well enough. Widening her stance a little did help her, and she realised shed be able to use that to help her with her magical combat as well. Blocking was a bit harder to work out, given the staff was almost the same height was herself, but once she adjusted her grip on the shaft she started to work it out. Attacking was easier, especially when she discovered (or was she shown? So many things a blur) that she could start with a short length and let her grip slide to lengthen the distance she could strike atalthough she also realised that the staff was harder to control when it was swinging further out. Something else to think about, she knew. She also figured that she could possibly combined magical and physical attacks with her staff strike a person with the head of the staff and release a magical bolt at the same time. So many things to consider
Saren was apparently satisfied with the progress theyd made, and Disa also appeared to be less-unhappy. Loriel was breathing hard when the spearman called a halt, but not quite as hard as Saren seemed to be; she didnt have to use her staff to lean on, at least, but that as about it. She remained silent, watched, as Disa checked on the other man; then she nodded at his instruction.
Ill try to practice what youve shown me, she promised. Theres a lot there, and some of what youve shown me may just be caught up in what becomes my own style.
Saren snorted softly as Disa looked on. If it becomes your own style, so be it, he acknowledged. Having your own style is not a bad thing; it means others are less likely to know what youre doing for them to be able to counter it. Just make sure you dont ignore what weve just done. Your sergeant likely wont be happy if you do.
A small smile flicked over the elven girls face. Probably true, she agreed, and she risked a furtive glance at the tall warrior near them. Saren snorted, almost in humour, at the mages quip.
I think shell do you just fine, Disa, the spearman offered casually. Loriel just flushed in response, although she did collect herself quickly and straightened up.
Yeswell she began, now slightly flustered as well as recovering from exertion, I, ummmif theres nothing more, I think I need to go and fix up my tent As she spoke, she slung her staff over her shoulder, enjoying the weapons comforting presence against her back as she quickly looked form one to the other.
gpt
Disa jerked his head at Saren.
"Get moving old man." He said with a tone of false scorn in his voice. Saren only smiled, and made good on the instruction. Disa watched him go, and shook his head. Sarenwasgetting old, and it was clear from the way he walked away that there were old wounds that pained him to this day. Not an uncommon fate for old warriors. It was mildly discomforting to think that he himself wasn't too far off of such a fate. He'd been doing this for a long time, but his retirement plans had fallen through long enough ago to sting less than it used to, but it wasn't something that he was going to swell on.
Disa started to walk, waving for Loriel to go with him, aiming towards where she'd had her tent. There was something else that he wanted to address.
"That fight in the Mire, that was your first action, wasn't it? Tell me Mageling, how are you feeling about that? The fight, the losses, the killing?" he asked her. He was not fond of this line of speaking, but the point had been well made. It was the responsibility of a sergeant to make sure that his people were in good condition, both physically and mentally. Loriel was young, and he had known some people that had not dealt well with the first time they ended a life. Some had been fine while under the pressure of hte fight, only to go to pieces later. Both were something he had to keep an eye out for. He did hope that Loriel could cope with it easily enough, she'd acquitted herself well in the fighting. For all the gried he offered her, having a mage on the team did make them considerably more capable of dealing with anything they found that offered them violence.
human
Having Disa fall into step beside her as she made her way to her tent was something Loriel had most certainly not expected. More surprising was that he engaged her in conversation he was wanting to know how she was feeling. Her initial thought was that he was searching for information about her to try and use as an excuse to get her off his team, or as fodder to use as the basis for more insults and put-downsshe dismissed the thought. It wasnt reasonable to continue to think harshly of the man, not when others seemed to think well of him and that he just put on a rough exterior. If Disas more-recent comments were anything to go by, he was starting to appreciate her and her value to his teamand she needed to step up and act like it.
She nodded slowly as they walked.
Iit was, she admitted in a quiet tone. Ive never killed a person before then. I was never very good with combat spells when I was an apprentice, anyway; I was better with defensive and supportive magic. I guess She hesitated, then sighed.
The Circles officially dissolvedwhatfifteen months ago, now? I undertook my Harrowing just two weeks before that vote was cast, and the Grand Enchanter decided to let the result to dissolve the Circles stand even though it was only carried by a small margin. Before my Harrowing I was an apprentice, spent most of my time studying and learning and practicing; I never left the Tower in all that time. Then, suddenly, the Circles no longer existed, and ten years of my life just vanished in a vote I didnt agree with or want. I and a few other mages from the Tower found ourselves outside the Tower with mages streaming everywhere to leave, and the Templars at that moment undecided on whether to let us go or chase us down. The group I was withwe headed towards the Storm Coast, found a small hut we used for shelter and refuge. We heard that the Rebel Mages we holing up in Redcliffe, but we werent rebels ourselves; we heard that Loyalist Mages were gathering where they could but we had no means of joining them. We took turns in shopping and foraging and scavenging, because there was nothing else we could do. We hid for almost a year before we were finally found by rogue Templars. I alone escaped when they attacked, and only because I wasnt near the hut at the timethe Templars killed everyone in and near the hut and burned it to the ground. By that time wed heard of the Inquisition and had decided to join it to save ourselves, mostly, and to try and right some of the wrongs in the worldbut we never got the chance. Instead, six good people, people who just wanted to be safe and left alone, were killed simply because they were mages. I slowly made my way to the Hinterlands, hiding by day and moving at night when I could, because Id heard whispers that the Inquisition had set up camps thereI found Corporal Vayle at the Crossroads and asked to join him. She chuckled softly. I must have looked a sight after four weeks of travelling through scrub, because he took one look at me and shipped me off to Haven to recover. Then Harding grabbed me and added me to your team.
By now they were nearing her tent still lying in the crumpled heap shed left it. As shed spoken, Loriel had kept her gaze in front of her, and this didnt change as she continued speaking.
I guess itseasier? Killing from a distance like I do. Im not there hacking them apart with a sword or daggers, or beating them to a pulp with a mace Im standing back and firing spells and energy. II dontwantto kill, but I recognise that there are times when I must, because my opponent would do the same to me.
She finally turned her head slightly to regard the large warrior next to her. That probably doesnt answer your question, I know, butright now, its all Ive got. I thinktalking to Garret while I was helping him recover helped me deal with my fears, at least a little.
gpt
Disa nodded as she spoke, having her lay out all that had happened to her since everything had come apart. He had the thought that her story might not be too terribly unique amongst mages who simply wanted to be left alone. He couldn't fathom that approach to the situation, trying to stay neutral in a war like that was doomed to failure, as her story did prove. Had they made their way to Orlais, they could have linked up with loyalist mages, though that ran the risk of being pressed into service, they wouldn't have been isolated and vulnerable.
Disa gave himself a mental shake. It was entirely too easy to slip into the mindset on expecting others to have a similar outlook and upbringing to himself. It didn't work that way. Thedas might be a better place if it was so, but there was no point in wishing for that. Not when there was a giant hole in the sky.
"It tells me more than you might think Mageling. Sometimes ending the life of a person can be a hard thing to shoulder after awhile, and dealing with that is important. I'm your sergeant. If you feel like you need to talk, try to work something out, you can talk to me. I'm supposed to make sure you're at your best going into the field. That means more than just making sure you're armed and armoured for the occasion." He told her.
The sight of her collapsed tent made Disa half smile. He stepped to it, and crouched.
"Now come here, I'll show you a trick or two about the tent. Make sure some asshole can't just come along and kick it over." He told ehr turning that half smile at her directly.
It wasn't a hard task to do, showing her better ways of securing her lines, the right angle to drive in her stakes, and he also made sure that she had the small mallet to drive in the stakes, especially in Haven with the hard frozen ground. Well set up, the tent walls were tight, maximizing the interior space, and making sure that it would help maintain any heat within it.
"If you don't have a good one yet, requisition yourself a good bedroll. If anyone gives you any trouble, tell them I sent you." He informed her after they'd gone over the tent completely.
human
She nodded slowly at his words. They may not have been filled with the most awe-inspiring wisdom, but they made a kind of sense. In any case, he was her sergeant, duty-bound to ensure his team was up to scratch as it headed into the fieldand that included her. It sounded felt odd, hearing him almost open to her, and ask her to open to him, but thats what it was: her sergeant wanting to know each of his team was up to the task ahead.
Loriel didnt offer a reply, instead continuing to her crumpled mess of a tent, lying in more-or-less the same pile of canvas shed left it in. She found herself returning that half-smile as he crouched by her tent: she knew he was referring, in part, to himself when he spoke of assholes that might kick a tent down, but she let the comment go. If she knew him better, she might have made a light quip; if she was more annoyed with him, she might have fired off a barb at himinstead, she was neither, and neither degree of response was warranted. She crouched by the tent when he did, shuffled inside when he did, did her best to absorb his instruction on how to better set up a tentby the time they were done maybe a good couple of hours later she felt she had a much better idea. Time would tell, as always.
A bedrollof course, the young mage agreed with a deep nod of her head. Probably one of several things I missed last night when I sleptor tried to. Im sure my quality of sleep last night wasnt as good as it could have been. How Im going to carry one as well as my tent and staff Im not sureyou may not have noticed, but Im not as large or muscular as you are. She paused to give a faint but cheeky smile, before letting it fade as she continued. No, Im not asking someone to carry my gear for me. Ill pull my own weight. Ill figure it out.
She paused again, then looked back towards the chantry briefly before focussing her gaze on the large barbarian.
Do you have any idea when theyll send us out again? This time she was speaking with plain curiosity. Varric suggested I might find Vivienne and have a chat with her aboutmagey stuff. If weve time, Id like to do that, see what insight and help she can offer me. She might even have better ideas for a staff, ideas on how to be more effective in battlethings like that.
gpt
Disa heard her out, listened as she spoke, always having to remind himself that he was dealing with someone younger than he was, someone that was still trying to make sense out of the world. And the world they lived in was a world gone completely mad. As she lamented the lack of a bedroll, adn carrying, he was about to give her a light admonishment, and possibly see about doing a little temporary shuffling of goods, but she beat him to it, dismissing hte idea outright. Taht was a good sign. Trying was how one learned. And learning was how one became better.
"It's not as heavy as you might think. But a little carrying will help put some meat on those bones of yours." He told her with a light wink. "We'll make sure you get a proper pack to carry, something that'll distribute the weight better for you. I'll have a word with Seggrit about sending my people into the field without even the basic gear. He may be running a business, but he's not going ot be running one for much longer if he keeps this up." Disa said with a bit of a glint to his eyes, something in them spoke of a buried anger. There was a flicker of something past that anger, something deeper, something...primal. He blinked, and the moment was gone.
"We're likely to deploy in a few days. Harding has a few options for a new member lined up, and she's letting me take my pick this time. So once that's sorted, it'll just be a matter of us being sent out again. Somewhere likely a bit less...exciting and infested with the walking dead." Disa observed, a tinge of hope in his voice, but if one listened, the hope was false. If Disa was hoenst, he could spend months in the Mire, charting it, and facing down all that there was there to fight. He had long ago made peace with the idea of who he was. He lived for hte glory of battle, to measure himself.
He had changed from that mindset once. Tried to be someone else.
But that chance was gone now, and who he was now was all the world needed from him.
"If you plan to speak to mages about your talent, I encourage it. The more you know, the better. Best not tell Vivienne you report to me though. Not much love lost there I fear." He admit to her. "Buy me a beer in the tavern sometime, and maybe I'll tell you the tale, such as it is. Until then, sleep mageling. And until you get your bedroll.." he popped the clasp on his bear cloak, and tossed it to her, gently this time, giving her a chance to catch it. "...use that. I'll be back for it in the morning." He nodded to her, adn turned away, leaving at a quick but even paced march. Likely finding his own tnet for the night. For a man as large as he was, and armoured as he was, he managed to vanish intot he night with surprising ease.
human
She caught the cloak with some measure of surprise that she hadnt expected. She hadnt expected him to give her his cloak in the Mire, either, but she was no less surprised by the gesture this timeit was just that this time she saw the cloak being handed to her. Shed listened carefully to the man as hed given his thoughts and opinionsso many things to try and remember. Well, not that many, really, butwell, she was finding she had a lot to learn, although she wasnt as surprised by that.
As she watched Disas departing back, she wondered about the man her sergeant really was. He wasnt as rough as he portrayed himself, Loriel was certain of that. He could be calm and polite and rationalalthough maybe that was now due, in part, because shed pulled her weight and done the best she could in trying circumstances. Hed probably never address her by name, though, and she reluctantly resigned herself to that she knew that shed forever be mageling to him.
The young elf turned and slipped into her own tent, cloak bundled in her arms, and closed the tent flaps behind her. She laid the cloak out on the tent floor and settle into it, her mind going over the past hour or so. She hadnt missed the slight anger in his voice as he spoke of being unprepared in the field. There was a story there. Likewise, there was a story in the near-wistfulness in his voice as he spoke of being away from the Mireshe got the feeling that hed be happier there. Just how, she couldnt say, but from her experience of the Fallow Mire, Loriel knew shed be far happier away from it. That wasnt necessarily her call, though; if the Inquisition sent them back there, shed go.
She curled up in Disas heavy cloak and settled for a few moments. Things she had to do tomorrow, after breakfast: get a bedroll from Seggrit; figure out how to wrap and carry both a tent and a bedroll; try to find Vivienne and speak with her about mage-0relate matters (and not mention Disa to the other mage if at all possible). Disa had mentioned getting another member for the team; maybe Disa might ask for her opinion? She rather doubted that, though; after all, Loriel herself was still very green when it came to the field. Maybe shed talk with Garret instead, see how the scout was doing. She rather liked the man, and was curious to know what he was up to.
She sighed softly as the silence settled upon her. The young mage closed her eyes, relaxed, allowed a small smile to form on her lipsand slowly drifted into sleep.
gpt
Scaling the rocks once more to reach his tent, Disa let out a breath, the exhale fogging the air around him. He kept going, glad of the exercise. He'd yet to meet a rock face he couldn't climb, and it was a kind of solid, practical exertion he appreciated. Another night of Haven stretched out in front of him, the collection of fires glittering in the night. So many people. They had the aid of the Templars. They had hundreds of soldiers. They had skilled leaders, and the Herald of Andraste.
They were probably all doomed anyway.
He wasn't going to lie to himself. Demons from the sky, the great tear they fell from, breaches all over the lands, and some other forces that seemed to be moving against them. The odds were against them on almost every level, especially with how they'd been denounced by the Chantry. Yes, they had made strides to mend that issue, but any hope of success was going to be a long shot.
And yet here he was.
A fight that needed fighting. If they failed, there wasn't going to be anywhere to run to. Demons didn't care if a swamp was unpleasant. They'd come for his people. And while the Chasind were fierce as could be, they would not hold for long against that kind of numbers and foes. Everyone was at risk. Running from the fight only offered more chances for the enemy to win. Every soul that would face the coming darkness was a blessed one in the eyes of the Gods. He sighed, letting his eyes close.
And helping the Inquisition was whatshewould have wanted. And perhaps he still felt like he owed her that much, even after the years had passed.
Disa banished that thought, all thoughts of her really. There was a word for what that brought on in his home tongue.Heimthra they called it, a sickness for home and the past. Strong warriors had been felled by it before, succumbing to the weakness of it all. Disa woud not let himself be taken by it. He turned back to his tent, climbing within. It was a little more brisk without his cloak, but it mattered little. He'd manage nicely. He always did. He let sleep take him, knowing he had things to do in the morning.
* * * * *
Disa was up at the sound of boots by his tent. He stuck his head out, staring nearly eye level with Harding.
"Sergeant." She said brightly. Disa crawled out, stood, stretched, before looking back to his commanding officer.
"Ma'am. Getting an early start I see." Disa point out.
"A lot to do Disa. Now come on. We've a few volunteers to work with you, and I want you to pick one out." Disa sighed, followed her. The sooner they got it over with, the better.
Four people were waiting by a camp fire. Disa had a momentary pang of envy, wanting the breakfast they were doling out to one another, but eating built a sense of familiarity. And he didn't want that obscuring his choice.
"Scouts. This is Sergeant Disa, and he's here to pick which of you will be going with him on the next outing." Harding announced. Disa looked at each of them. Two men, two women. He discarded one of the men right away, noticing the flicker of a sneer on his face, the way he held himself. Noble. Or at least once upon a time. Might be useful in the battle lines, but Disa didn't some misplaced sense of superiority getting in the way of orders. The other man showed some promise. Not young, and scarred in the face, looked like claw marks. His hands had the rough wear on them that only came from hard labour. His build suggested a farmer at some point. If he was quiet, then he'd be useful.
The first woman looked like she belonged on the arm of a noble, willowy grace and an angular look to her face. She smiled at Disa, a look of admiration there. There was a story there, he was sure. Harding wouldn't have put her here if she was useless, so he didn't discount her. The other woman made him think of home. She was nearly as tall as he was, and built strong enough to look like she'd be able lift and throw most men without trouble. That kind of strength was appealing. But it was also somewhat redundant, given his own skills.
That left the farmer and the slight woman. The woman was almost right away a question to him. Why she was here, and why she had apparently volunteered to serve not only the scouts, but him directly.
"Your names. You two." Disa pointed at the pair he was interested.
"Jacques sir." The man answered without hesitation. There was the tinge of an Orlesian accent in his voice.
"Alexandra." She said with a smile.
There was something in the answer from the farmer that had Disa curious.
"You were a farmer then?" Disa asked.
"Not for a long time. I...served as a squire to the Chevliers for many years. I am here to serve as best I can." The man replied. Disa nodded. A veteran then. He looked to the woman.
"And your task before now?"
"I served in the household of my mistress. When the estate was burned, I came looking for a task. I've worked with my Lady's Master of the Hunt for some time. I'll be no burden to you sir, this I swear."
"Where was your mistresses estate?"
"Amaranthine sir." The name was like a thunderbolt. Disa looked to Harding.
"Jacques. I'll take his experience." She nodded.
"All right. The rest of you wil have assignments soon enough, Jacques, get your kit together. You'll be leaving with Disa as soon as his team is ready for action." Harding ordered. Alexandra looked crestfallen to be passed over.
"Aye ma'am." Jacques bowed low, adn took his leave, Disa simply walked away.
human
Loriels eyes slowly opened to the encroaching daylight that was shining through the tent walls. Shed managed to sleep better last night maybe not a lot better, but still better. She was warmer, at least. And not quite as sore or uncomfortable as yesterday. She yawned, stretched her gangly limbs out to try and wake herself up, took a deep breath and let it out slowly, then rubbed the sleep from her eyes. She had things to do, she knew, to make sure she was ready to travel again: get a bedroll, work out how to pack her tent away, work out how to carry a tent and bedroll and staff without collapsing under the imagined weight of it alland find Vivienne and speak with her and try to not mention Disas name through the conversation. Breakfast first, thoughmight help her achieve a few things.
The young mage hauled herself out of her tent and stood up, stretched once more to work the kinks out of her back, then looked around. Life was returning to the makeshift camp she was staying in, and she even got a few nods of greeting from a few others who were emerging into the world as she was. So far, life in the Inquisition was proving to be more amenable than life in the Tower. She gave a few faint smiles and nods in reply as she closed her tent and headed to the mess area where breakfast was being served. She thought she saw Disa and Harding walk past the area, but wasnt sure, and she was soon lost in a crowd and couldnt see the figures shed thought shed seen. Instead she bumped not quite literally into Garret. The scout reacted first.
Morning Loriel, he greeted her pleasantly. I trust you slept well?
As well as I could, I suppose, the mage conceded lightly. Disas cloak helped a bit kept me warmer, at least, let me sleep better.
Disa gave you his cloak? Garret raised his eyebrows in surprise. Thats-
Unusual, I know, Loriel finished for him. I have no idea why. Maybe hes actually starting to like me.
Ive already told you he does, the scout pointed out. Hes just not as open about it.
You told me that, too, she countered. Its one thing to hear it; its another to see it.
Thats true, Garret agreed, as the two made their way to the serving tables. What have you got lined up today?
I need a bedroll from Seggrit, she offered. I need to work out how to pack my tent and bedroll so I can carry them. And I want to try and speak with Vivienne, the mage from Orlais who seems to have fitted in with the Heralds team. She paused for a moment, then gave the scout a curious look. Youre looking much better, by the way.
Garret shrugged lightly. I guess I am, he acknowledged. No small thanks to you. If it wasnt for you, Id have joined Zander in the Mire.
Loriel flushed slightly. I did what I could she muttered in a small, embarrassed voice.
You did more than that, the scout rejoined, placing a hand lightly on her shoulder. I never thought Id say this to a mage, and an elven mage at that, but I owe you my life, Loriel.
For a few seconds Loriel was silent, as they received their bowls of hot, nourishing porridge: she clearly didnt know how to respond. Finally she smiled faintly. Justkeep being a friend, Garret, and Ill consider the debt repaid.
Garret grinned. I can do that, he agreed. And Ill get that bedroll for you. Disas tab, right? Ill fix it with Seggrit, dont you worry about it. He paused and cut the mage off as it looked like she was about to reply. No, its fine. Its not as though I have lots to do today, anyway. Ill also catch up with Disa he mumbled something about getting a new person into the squad, so Ill have a chat and find out who the new person is. Ill catch up with you later and let you know, okay?
Loriel sighed softly in resignation. Sure, Ill do that. I might have even managed to not feel degraded by Vivienne. She snorted softly as she felt Garrets hand lightly slap her shoulder.
You stop that, you hear? Garret almost sounded annoyed by the mages comment. You pulled your weight when it counted in the field. Without you wed have been cut down faster in the Mire, dont forget that. You gave a good account of yourself and made those Avvar work for their prize. You saved my life, and our asses, out there. Thats more than most can say. Youre all right, Loriel. Dont you doubt that. He paused, then gave Loriels shoulder a friendly squeeze. Ill find you later, and bring you that bedroll. Ill show you how to pack them together, too, if Disa hasnt already done that. Okay?
Loriel nodded, her cheeks fairly burning at both Garrets rebuke and the attention hed drawn to the pair of them. Okay, Garret. I will. It was a rather vague reply, but it seemed to appease the scout; then, bowl in hand, he disappeared into the throng of bodies.
Loriel found a table of mages and joined them; there were a couple of elves, but most were human. They knew her to be Dalish, it turned out, but they gave that no heed as the group talked about magic experiences and understandings. They swapped stories of recent events; few, like Loriel, had been in the field, so they were interested in hearing of the rift shed encountered; others brought tales of research and tricks uncovered. Without realising it, they were all keeping an eye on the Templars that were nearby the Herald had recently returned from Therinfall Redoubt in south-east Ferelden and had secured the assistance of the Templars, and more were arriving by the day, and that had the mages already gathered on edge. Curiously, not long after the Templars started arriving, news started filtering in from Redcliffe that the city had completely closed up and was locked down; no-one was getting in or out any more, and no-one knew what that meant for the Rebel Mages that had been using Redcliffe as their base.
Finding Vivienne didnt take a lot of work, once breakfast was done she eventually found the dark-skinned woman in the Chantry, sitting at a desk in a small nook to one side of the main hall. The woman looked to be reading a book, and had a mug of water next to her, and there were a few candles providing much-needed light. Loriel almost hated to intrude, but she knew shed get some good guidance here. She took a step closer and cleared her throat slightly.
The womans head lifted gracefully and slowly half-turned to regard the new arrival. Yes, dear?
Im sorry to intrude, Miss Vivienne, but Ive been told-
Wait the other woman all-but commanded as she turned fully to face Loriel. Youre the mage who was in the Fallow Mire recentlyLoriel, am I right?
Loriel nodded her head quickly. Thats rightbut how did you know?
who you are? Vivienne gave a small laugh as she watched the young elf before her. My dear, I am or was, I suppose the First Enchanter of Montsimmard, and I nominally lead the Loyalist mages across Thedas. There isnt a mage in the Inquisition at the moment that I dont know or find out about, and given there arent so many of us here, its relatively easy for me to know who the Inquisition mages are.
Loriel blinked slowly, then nodded her head. II suppose thats true, she agreed, clearly not having even remotely considered that.
Indeed, my dear, the older woman agreed smugly. Nowwhat can I do for you?
I was hoping I could get some advice from you, Loriel began simply. Im part of Scout Hardings team, as Im sure you know. Well b going back into the field soon, and I wanted to know if theres any advice you can give me aboutwelldeveloping as a mage.
You mean other than not giving in to demons? Vivienne asked lightly. Loriel nodded her head, and the other mage continued. I suppose I could, but I would first need to know what advice you seek?
Loriel almost shrugged helplessly. II dont know, to be honest, she admitted after a slight pause. I guessthe spells I know, really. How to develop the ones I know and learn new ones. In the Mire I found a couple of spell patters just pop into my head as we fought Avvar I dont know how, but-
Just like that? Vivienne interrupted. You were in the middle of a fight and new spells just appeared to you?
Loriel nodded. One, yes Barrage, I think it was. The other Immolate came to me outside of fighting, but it still simply appeared in my mind.
Curious, darling, Vivienne mused thoughtfully. Normally mages have to be taught how to identify new patterns, but youwhat youre doing, as youve described it, has not been done for a very long time. She smiled warmly at the elven mage. Youll bear watching, I think.
Youyou think so? Loriel looked somewhat perplexed.
For certain, darling, the other mage agreed. But, to try and give you a little help
The two women spent the next hour talking about magic, experiences, learning and study, and even touched on the construction of staves. Loriels head was not-quite spinning when Commander Cullen approached the pair, made his apologies, and asked Vivienne to join the Herald in the War Room.
There was a lot of knowledge that had been dumped on the young elf, but Loriel knew that if she could retain it, it would be invaluable. A father flustered elven mage stepped out of the Chantry.
gpt
Disa was a bit aimless after securing the services of his newest scout. He wandered down to see what was going on with the merchants, surprised to find Garret having something of a heated discussion with Seggrit. He approached.
"I'm not a blasted charity! Unless I get some actual trade and not just the dregs that you people can give me, I'm going to go broke!" Seggrit protested. Garret didn't look overly flustered, the man knew what he was doing.
"Disa has an accumulated tab. You agreed to that. So we need this stuff for missions. And the Inquisition has been reimbursing you for basic gear anyway." Garrett countered. Before Seggrit could speak again Disa stepped up to the conversation.
"Seggrit. Are you trying to tell me that you're refusing to issue equipment to my people?" He asked. His tone wasn't loud, but it had the undertone of someone that was not interested in hearing any argument.
"No! I'm saying I need to turn a profit here! This...scout..." Seggrit seemed to menally catch himself before leveling an insult Garret's way."...is asking for a tiny deduction from your tab to cover the costs! And I won't stand for being taken advantage of!"
"Neither will I Seggrit. You're being paid whatyouagreed was a fair price for your goods. And now you want more? Would anyone miss you if I just tossed you out of Haven adn gave your goods to the Inquisition? We could get a merchant from Redcliffe in here to replace you in a few days at most." Disa countered. The fire went out of Segrit as he realized the big man wasn't joking. Seggrit hadn't done much to really ingratiate himself with the people here, and that could cost him very dearly.
"Bedroll. Okay." Seggrit mumbled.
"An officers bedroll. And a set of cloak clasps. And you'll do it as a favour to me." Seggrit mumbled something under his breath, but grabbed what was asked, adn handed it to Disa. "Always a pleasure Seggrit.'
Garret took the bedroll from Disa.
"I promised Loriel I'd bring her this." The scout explained.
"Fine. Keep an eye on her, all right? There's a few around here that might want to cause her trouble." Disa ordered. Garret nodded slowly. There was something in Disa's tone that made him wonder. The big man was a bit mercurial in his moods and actions, Grret had to wonder if that had something to do with being a Berserker? He'd met one or two in his time, but Disa was different. The way he lost control made him seem almost animalistic in his fury. Vicious. But somehow still fiercely loyal and devastating.
"Of course. Oh, and do we have a new member of the team?"
"Yes. Veteran. Orlesian. A lot of service. Jacques. He'll be with us soon." Disa paused. "When you see Loriel, let her know I want to have a meeting witht eh team tonight. My tent. Get everyone acquainted. Bring them in towards dusk. We'll share a drink, know who each other are." Garret nodded. It was a good idea.
"I'll pass it along sir." Garret promised. Disa nodded, and moved away from his subordinate. Garret trot off looking for Loriel. Disa had been serious in asking him to loo out for her, but frankly, Disa was going to be keeping an eye on Garret. Having friends among the squad was fine, but there was the potential of Garret getting a littletooclose to her. But time would tell. Disa turned a corner, and almost ran over Harding.
"Ma'am. Sorry about that." Disa apologised. Harding waved it away.
"Not worried about that. Seggrit complained about you, said you threatened him." Harding stated. Disa sighed. That had been quick.
"He was trying to extort money from me for basic gear for my unit. I disagreed."
"Just...try and keep it a little more diplomatic?"
"Aye ma'am." Harding smiled.
"And did I hear right? You're hosting a meeting or your people?"
"Yes. Relations were strained on the last mission, I want to avoid that again."
"Good. I might send another unit or two to join you. Make it a scouting party." Disa nodded.
"Send booze with them." Disa countered. Harding nodded.
"Of course. Until later then Disa." Harding head off, always more to do.
human
Loriel didnt return to the main camp after her chat with Vivienne instead the young mage headed for the camp outskirts. It was well-known that there was large tracts of wilderness outside the camp, hidden amongst the valleys and peaks and often covered in snow; this wilderness was rich in wood and iron and elfroot and, if one was careful, also rich in hides and meat from rams and druffalo. It was for the latter that Loriel was going outside the campshe had to know how far shed grown. A couple of months ago shed never have dreamed of leaving the camps walls; now she knew she had to try.
She gave a nod to a couple of the guards as she walked through the side gates that led to the wilderness. Haven was by no means a fortress, but the Inquisition had done some work to make the small village at least a little defensible. The guards acknowledged her passage but otherwise said nothing to the elven mage; they were used to scouts and hunters passing through either seeking or bringing resources the Inquisition needed. This mage was no different, except for the fact that she clearly lacked the muscle to carry back whatever she might find. Loriel saw one of the guards smirk at her, but she didnt bother retorting. She knew they were right about her lack of strengthbut that wasnt why she was going.
She trudged through the snow-covered path for maybe ten minutes before she spotted a couple of rams not far off the path. The rams didnt seem to have noticed her that was good. She slowly reached for her staff and grasped it in both slender handsthis would be an easy test, she knew. She quickly swung her staff in short arcs, releasing several bolts of electricity that flew towards the unsuspecting creature as she tried to make use of the instruction Saren had given her the day before. The ram bleated in surprise and pain as it started to flee, but it didnt get very far; it quickly collapsed under the barrage of energy that struck it. The other ram had quickly disappeared, though, but Loriel didnt mind; the staff her new staff, that is appeared to be quite effective. She knew from her chat with Vivienne that she could make a better one, but that also required better resources and materials; shed deal with that later. She made a note of where the ram was for Inquisition scouts to collect the corpse, then she moved on.
A few minutes later she found a few druffalo grazing; the elf could only presume they were digging for the roots and grasses beneath the snow, or foraging off the low-lying branches of trees. She knew that the druffalo wouldnt startle as easily, nor would they flee if she attacked; they were larger, stronger creatures than rams, and, while normally placid and docile, would be more likely to attack if attacked. She smiled grimly to herself this was the test she wanted. Now she just had to hope she didnt kill herself while testing herself.
She called forth a barrier around herself, felt the gentle tingle as she heard the soft whump that accompanied the appearance of the protective energy. Next she summoned the pattern and will for the Immolate spell and directed it at the nearest druffalo, and was rewarded by the creature bellowing in pain as its hide suddenly began burning. As she watched the creature turn towards her she called up the Barrage spell and pushed her will into it, then readied her staff as she saw a dozen bolts of energy dart into the burning animal. The animal came lumbering toward her as she swung her staff in rapid short arcs, sending bolt after bolt into the creatureand still it came at her. It stopped maybe twenty feet from her and lowered its head as it pawed at the groundgetting ready to charge at her? She stopped her staff and relaxed her body, watched as the animal started rushing towards her. She quickly flung herself to the right as it closed on her, and she felt one of its horns strike her barrier-covered leg and send her sprawling into the snow; there was impact, but no damage thanks to her barrier. She pulled herself to her feet as the animal reached the end of its charge, and she again pulled the Immolate pattern from her mind and pushed her will into it before causing another burst of fire to engulf the creature. Her staff swung again and again as the druffalo now looking badly scorched and moving slowly closed on herand it slowed and collapsed a few feet away from her, just as she felt her barrier collapse around her.
She smiled faintly as she looked around to check that no other druffalo had taken an interest in what shed just done; fortunately, shed been ignored by the others that were near the one shed attacked. Animal mentality, she guessed: they werent being attacked, so they didnt have to do anything. Her foray wasnt a rousing success by any hunting standard, she knew, but it was a success on a personal level she could call up the patters shed recently discovered as she needed them. The knowledge sat well with her. Maybe shed try taking on anther druffalo shortly, or even a pair of them, to further test her skill and endurance she was well aware that fighting ruffalo was not at all the same as fighting Avvar or demons, but she could use them to push herself further than she could doing training drillsand the Inquisition could use the meat and hides.
And she was a fair way from Haven by now, too. She climbed on top of a nearby rocky mound and sat on it, just so she could recover her breath. Shed been gone maybe a half-hour, she guessed as she looked back at the place she now called home. She knew shed fitted in with her clan, before shed been cast out; she never really felt like she fitted in at the Tower; but here, with the Inquisitionhere she could fit in and belong, maybe even be respected. So far the Inquisition looked upon its members as people, nothing more and nothing less, although individuals could not always be accounted forand that sat well with her.
She pushed the tip of her staff into the ground, just enough to keep it in place, then held it between her legs as she grasped it with her hands and leaned on it. At least she had her armour such as it was to keep her warm.
gpt
There was precious little else that Disa needed to take care of within the village proper. The press of people was starting to rankle his nerves a little. The Inquistion had rallied quite a few people to their side already, and that had filled Haven near to bursting. The coming of hte cavalry force as well ahd put a great deal more strain on things. Needless to say, it was by far more crowded than Disa preferred. His own people rarely gathered in numbers beyond their colleced family, beyond that an entire clan might unite for a great purpose or raid, but beyond that...there hadn't been a true ruler of his people in many living memories. More was the pity in Disa's mind, but he knew in his heart that such was an unworthy thought.
Hads his people been united under a single banner, it was inevitiable they would march against he lowlanders, and then what would come? Fire and blood adn death. Had such a thing happened within the last decade, they would have done such either before or during the Blight, sappign away the resources needed to win that war. And had it happened after that, well, then they'd have done the same with the current crisis. Whatever else he was, Disa was a pragmatist. If his people were to be ascendant, it would have to come long after his death, or should have come long before his birth. The world simply couldn't afford the kind of upheaval that would come from such a thing.
He wasn't heading anywhere in parrticular, other than away. And that was good enough for him right now. He took a deep breath of the cold air, glad of his armoru adn cloak. If anything he might be a little over warm. He heard a familiar thump, and cracked a smile. The sound of a Barrier was hard to mistake for anything in nature. Disa did have to wonder what mage might be pratciing out here, though he had his suspicions. Though why she felt the need for a Barrier in a safeplace was beyond him, unless it was just setting the habit. He hiked his way through the snow, finding it deeper near the trees he passed. Disa let a hand slide along the bark of the tree, a sturdy pine that towered above him. He ghosted a smile at the simple thing, but he felt oddly gratified to see the mundane thigns ofd hte world continuing to move forward even with the level of insanity that the world had reached.
He passed from the trees, and heard a blast of flame, the bursting of heat and the way it shoved the air away, the general crackle of power that came from some mages staves. As he emerged into the line of sight, he saw Loriel practicing. Against a druffalo. He had halfg a mind to get involved, but he'd seen her fight in the swamps, he had little doubt she'd be able to hold her own, if not escape if things became too out of hand.
Such a concern proved to be rather unfounded, as she kept hitting it with blast after blast, spells and staff blasts chipping away at it until the beast finally fell. She paced off to take a moment to catch her breath, adn DIsa strode forward. Not towards her, but the corpse of the druffalo.
"I see you've found ways ot keep busy mageling." He observed, not looking directly at her as he walked. He was a fair distance from her, maybe thirty yards, before he knelt beside the corpse. He drew a dagger, adn began to cut into it. It was simple work, but he was loath to let such a large quanitity of meat and materials go to waste. "Lend a hand, will you? I assume you've some idea of how to do this?"
human
She wasnt weary from her exertions, not by a long stretch; but resting to recover her energy after any battle was a good thing. Thats what Loriel thought, anyway. She wasnt lost in any kind of reverie, but she wasnt paying close attention to her surroundings, either. She was just content, she supposed, to sit on the rock and contemplate her performance against the druffalo. It had been adequate, she knew, but nothing breathtaking. It had been a personal victory, nothing more and nothing less a victory of magic and survival. The beast had not injured her (although it would have if she hadnt had her barrier up), and shed reconciled her developing magic.
She saw, on some level, the approaching person, and she was curious: why would he be here, of all places? Was he following her? What had brought him to the same location as her? She decided to not ask; she had no reason to object to his presence, and Haven was not exactly a closed fortress that he could be denied entry or passage. Maybe he had seen her fight, and was just following up on what hed seen. He could just as easily have walked away, she knew, but she also realised that his presence would possibly make dealing with the carcass a little easier. She watched for a moment as he moved to the downed beast, watched as he drew a dagger and started working on skinning it. What she didnt expect, though, was that hed ask her to join him.
I thought the practice would be useful, she explained as she slid off the rocky outcrop and moved toward her sergeant. Okay, a druffalo isnt exactly a quality opponent, but it can still fight back and kill me if Im not careful. She hesitated, then set her staff on the ground near them and slid her dagger the one hed given her from its sheath at the rear of her belt. She knelt next to the beast, opposite him, and started to work the blade through the hide.
Its been a very long time since Ive done this in earnest, she noted quietly. Not a lot of call for skinning animals in the Tower, and we didnt really hunt animals when I was in hiding following the dissolving of the Circles. My clan did teach me something of skinning and carving from kills, butthat was over ten years ago.
She sighed softly and focussed on the carcass for a few moments. Then she looked up briefly and addressed a question to him.
Sohow do you know the Dalish? You speak at least a little of the even tongue, so Im understandably curious
gpt
She was a little bit chatty, but that was fine with Disa. Every time she talked, he learned a alittle more, and that helped him understand things. There was likely always going to be a little bit of a barrier betweent hem, just from his own history with the elves, but that didn't mean that he had to maintain constant hostility. They'd shed blood in battle together, and that was enough for him to put a lot of his other reservations on hold.
Her wuestion was actually one that was fairly obvious really. There were large numbers of hte Dalish themselves that didn't speak much of the language, a human spouting thhe words fairly freely had to be something of an odd experience. But it wasn't as complicated in many ways.
"My clan was bordered to a Dalish clan for a long time. A few generations of my people anyway. We...didnt always get along. Our hunters fought for game, our wqarriors fought for pride. They raided us, we raided back, always just falling short of starting an actual war with one another. That much contact tends to lead to some attempts to educate yourself about you enemies. Language, tactics, beliefs. Anything to understand them, a little better. The side that fails to understand their foes is the side that dies." Disa explained. He kept working as he spoke, and considered the next few things he could say. He could keep them backm, but there was likely not ever going to be another point that it would come up naturally. And perhaps she deserved to know.
"I fought one of their champions. A duel between us to decide a conflict permanently. He was fast. Knew the blade better than any of his companions. The Dalish called him hero, said he had fought off human attacks dozens of times, slain many, saved even more. The fight was not a slow one, it was decided bewteen us quickly enough. Such is the way often times, when two warriors of similar skills meet. It takes a long time, or is over in all but a flash." Disa touched his abdomen idly, remembering the bite of dalish steel in his body. He hand moved to his arm, touching the trophy ring there. "He was a worthy foe. One of the few worthy of respect. A credit to his people adn his clan. The Fihrallen clan mourned his loss."
human
Slowly she found the Old Skills (it sounded strange in her head to refer to them as if they were great things) returning to her hands. Oh, yes, she was rusty Loriel knew she was. Survival skills had not been a feature of her studies in the Tower. Heck,leavingthe Tower hadnt been a feature of her time there. Shed since learned that Fereldans Circle Tower was one of the more restrictive, that many other Circles allowed their mages to leave when they needed to, and some Circles didnt even require their Mages to live in a specific building; but for all that shed disliked the restrictiveness of Fereldans Tower, she was glad she hadnt lived in Kirkwall. As for the druffalo carcasswell, she was managing to remove the hide; her work wasnt brilliant, but it was at least adequate. The hide was coming off mostly as she intended.
Disa was talking, too. Revealing small snippets about himself. She was in no way surprised to find that hed tangled with the Dalish on the field of battle. Shed have liked to have been surprised, but she wasnt; it felt more like he was confirming something she already knew, although she knew shed never be able to say just howshe knew. And what he was saying, about learning the ways of the enemy, made sense. Then he went on, talking about a single combat fight with an elven champion, supposedly to bring an end to hostilities. She vaguely recalled something similar happening in her own clan happening just after she was born. She was too young to understand; she didnt even have a memory of the event, although the adults of the clan, when they spoke of it, spoke with some sadness of loss.
Then he finished speakinghe WAS talking about her clan.
Clan Fihrallen, she repeated slowly. MY clan. YOU killed one of MY clans warriors.
Her hands froze in the act of slicing the hide off the carcassshe stopped dead, her gaze suddenly locked on the body between them. Her heart seemed to jump into her throat for a moment. And yether blood didnt boil as it might have done. For all that she should have hated him, should have moved to attack him in some long-lost feud to defend her peoplethese were also the same people that had cast her out when shed come into her magic.
She took a deep breath, let it out slowly. This was a turning point for her, although she didnt immediately recognise it as such; it was a point at which shed have to finally decide her loyalties and priorities.
She slowly and deliberately cleaned her blade in the snow between her knees and returned it to its sheath. Then she slowly stood and met her sergeants gaze. When she found her voice, she spoke in a slow, measured tone.
E-excuse me, sir, she finally offered quietly. II need to think on this, and what it means forfor me. She still wasnt feeling anger or rage, or even hatred; if anything, she feltconfused.
She turned slightly and walked away, but she didnt head back towards Haven; instead, she headed vaguely in the direction of the Penitents Bridge, where a couple of druffalo were lazily shuffling through the snow in search of something to graze on.
gpt
"Understood scout. Dismissed. Several of the scout squads are gathering tonight, it would do you good to be there." He observed, but didn't make any further comment or effort to stop her.
It wasn't something that very many people really had to grapple with on the same scale. Sure, there were those from difering nations that had to deal with post war feelings, but there was rarely the moment that you learned that the man before you was directly responsible for your clan losing a section of hunting grounds, and had slain one of the great champions of your people. Speed and precision against pure brute force and rage, it had been a clash that no one present would ever forget.
There had been plenty of equally hard battles during the Blight, but not one that had meant so much immediately to his people. Or to hers. But she hadn't tried to set him on fire, so he'd count that as her taking the news well. Disa focused on the task at hand, getting the carcass ready for transport. Once he'd managed that, he lashed a rope around it and took a deep breath. He started dragging hte corpse.
It was slow going, the beast weighing nearly a solid tonne. Disa was puffing from the exertion fairly quickly, knowing that he could have gone back to Haven for help, but there was something gratifying about making hte effort on his own. Besides, if he got help, he'd have to share it out right away, and he wasn't planning on that.
It took hours to make it back to his camp, and even longer to stoke the fire larger. He hewed off slabs of the meat, setting them up to roast. It was still a few hours before dark, but druffalo took time to cook properly, and he wanted there to be enough to go around. The hide he set up on a quickly assembled rack, stretching it out. There was a chance he might actually be here long enough to deal with it properly, and if he could, then it'd be worth far more in trade.
He knew that it was all just busy work.
He hadn't had to share his past with Loriel, but he'd not wanted to make it seem like he was actively hiding anything from her either, especially when it could be considered at least tangentially connected to herself. Honesty. Being somewhat open at least with his squad, it was still hard for him most days. They weren't clan, but they were his lifeline in duty, and he needed them to be able to trust him. He settled in to tend to the meat as the day whiled away, darkness starting to fall. He expected to have the other scouts arriving soon.
human
She didnt walk quickly towards the bridge walking quickly was a difficult thing to achieve when your feet were disappearing an inch or two into the top layers of snow with each step so that gave her lots of time to think. Loriels thoughts were all over the place, confused, tumultuousand she didnt know how to even begin organising them to help her work things out. At best, she might have described herself as disappointed: with herself, for not handling Disas revelation better; with her elders, for not being more open and informative; with Disa, for not being more consideratebut mostly with herself. And she couldnt figure out why.
A soft chuckle sounded above her, startling her a little. She realised shed reached the bridge, and that her journey through the snow-covered mountains was at its end the mountain wall met the gates of the bridge and forward movement wasnt possible at this point. Shed have to go up, onto the bridge, or back the way shed come. She looked up in the direction of the chuckle, only then realising that her hand had reflexively gone to grab her staff; she relaxed her grip, letting the staff settle on her shoulders again, and sought out the source of the chuckle.
The chuckles owner was a large man with unkempt dark hair and a thick, bushy beard. Dark eyes peered at her with good humour from under a heavy brow. The man was wearing a practical steel breastplate with the emblem of the Grey Wardens emblazoned on it, and he had a stout shield strapped to his back. Loriel guessed shed been watching her for at least a little while, long enough to have wondered just when shed notice shed run out of walking space; clearly, hed come to that conclusion long before she had. She offered the man a sheepish smile. The path from the bridge back to the main camp would be much easier than her path back through the snow, but she had no way to really get up to the bridge.
Im glad I was able to offer some entertainment, she began, her voice carrying her awareness of her dilemma and offering no hostility.
The man snorted quietly and lowered a rope ladder to her. You may want this, he suggested, his voice deep and mirthful and carrying an unusual accent.
Thank you, she replied gratefully. The man didnt say anything further, preferring to remain quiet as Loriel climbed the ladder. When she was at the top he helped her over the bridge wall and the pair then pulled the ladder back up and stowed it in a nearby locker. It was only then that he spoke again.
A penny for your thoughts, he offered. At the mages puzzled expression, he continued. I was just out walking the perimeter, checking the fortifications and ways into Haven. He shrugged slightly. Its what I do. Comes from aa long military life ofpatrolling. I saw you about ten minutes ago and made a small bet with myself that you were so lost in thought youd not notice you were out of walking room until you hit something. He held up his hands defensively. Im not prying, just observing. Unless you wish to share, of course
Loriel frowned slightly before replying. Sharing might help, but could you at least tell me who you are?
The man looked blankly at her for a moment before he snorted quietly. Sorry. Ive spent a lot of time on my own lately, I tend to forget my social graces. The names Blackwall. Your Herald recruited me in the Hinterlands a week or so ago.
Loriel nodded her head. Loriel. One of the Inquisitions mages, although I guess the staff makes that obvious. Im in one of Scout Hardings many scouting teams.
Blackwall nodded slowly in understanding. Harding. Good woman, that one. No-nonsense, knows her stuff. You could do worse for a scout leader than her. He paused for a moment, pondering the elven mage before her. Youd have been in one of those teams the Herald grabbed out of the Fallow Mire a while back, then. He grinned at Loriels exasperated expression. I hear things, and Ive not been so alone that Ive forgotten how to put two and two together to get five.
Loriel cocked an eyebrow. Thats not the right She trailed off as she realised that the man had been joking with her. Okay, Ill admit it: you got me there.
Blackwall chuckled again. At least you realised it before you made a total fool of yourself, he acknowledged. Nowyou feel up to sharing?
Loriel sighed softly as she turned to look over the wall of the bridge at the frozen lake below them. Justtrying to sort out something I just learned. The short version: my sergeant just told me that he was the man who killed one of my clans champions a long time ago, just after I was born. Apparently, it was some formal battle between them, to try and bring an end to the hostilities between his clan and mine. Buthow do you reconcile that?
Ah, Blackwall began thoughtfully. The vanquished comes face-to-face with the man who vanquished them. Not an easy thing to deal with, Ill bet.
Wellits notexactlylike that, but close enough, I suppose, Loriel replied.
I guess thats true, Blackwall greed. But theres more, isnt there? I mean, youre and elf, a mage, and youre Dalish, but you dont have the facial markings.
The elven girls lips pursed in thought. Yes. My clan cast me out when I came into my magic. Until a year or so ago, I was living in Fereldens Circle Tower. I never had the chance to earn myvallaslin.
So its a question of loyalty, then, the warden surmised. Do you give your loyalty to the clan that cast you out when you were a child, or to the sergeant who killed one of your kin?
Loriel nodded her head slowly.
Then let me say this: give your loyalty to the Inquisition, Blackwall continued. Theyve taken you in, given you purpose, given you access to equipment and training that you wouldnt have otherwise had. After that, it becomes a question of duty, not loyalty. Your loyalty is to the Inquisition, and your duty is to your sergeant and to your scouting team. You dont have to like your sergeant to work well with him.
The mage pondered the wardens words as the pair, as if by some unspoken agreement, slowly turned and headed back towards Haven. II guess thats one way to look at it, she conceded slowly. Its better than any way I was able to come up with, thats for sure.
The warden chuckled knowingly, and the two continued to chat, this time more amiably about general things, as they made their way back to Haven. Darkness was falling when they got back to the village encampment, and they went their separate ways Blackwall towards the Chantry building, and Loriel towards where the scouts and soldiers were camped. Garret caught up with the mage almost as soon as the mage was in sight of the sea of tents.
There you are, Loriel, the scouted greeted her. Thought you werent going to make it. A few of the teams have gathered, and theres lots of chatter about the druffalo that Disa hauled back to camp.
I hope hes not taking the credit for my kill, the elven mage muttered lightly. She hadnt quite straightened out her feelings towards Disa, but she was no longer as confused as she had been a few hours earlier. She owed him a duty; their fledgling friendship had been damaged, but it was not irreparable, she knew.
Ohthat was you? Garret seemed a little surprised by that. A few of us wondered whod killed it the carcass looked a little burned, and it wasnt displaying any of the marks that a sword would have left. The scout shrugged his shoulders. Well, thenyoure coming along well. IIm glad youre on our team, Loriel. Whereve you been all afternoon?
I justwent out to clear my head, get a few things straightened out, Loriel explained. All good, now. She paused to look around her. You and Disa both said something about a gathering of scouts?
Garret nodded quickly. Yeahthis way
gpt
Disa was pleased that his newest recruit, Jacques, arrived well in advance to others.
"Reporting sir. Is there anything I can do?" He asked, his tone carrying the Orlesian accent clearly.
"Check the meat. Make sure it doesn't burn." Disa ordered. Jacques didn't hesitate, but set to work. A moment later, he was sprinkling what looked like salt on the meat. Disa only smiled. Experience in this field indeed.
Disa gave a wave to greet the next arrivals. Dylan and his full team, Maren, Davin, and Paula, all striding towards the large fire. And they had a sack with them that was making the sound of glass clinking together. He had some hope for what that entailed.
"Are we too early?" Dylan asked as he came close.
"To eat, yes, but not if what I hope is in that bag is accurate." Disa answered. Dylan grinned adn withdrew a bottle from the bag, and tossed it to the Chasind. Disa cracked it and took a long pull. An ale, but a quality one, something normally only sold individually. He didn't know where Dylan had gotten them, and he was equally certain he didn't care.
Garret came and went again, off to go find Loriel, while another mob was approaching. Leading the way was clearly Harding, and she had a bright smile on her face.
"We have brought booze!" She called.
"And I have food!" Disa called back. There was a faint cheer from the advancing scouts.
Jacques was slicing off chunks of the meat, skewering it onto small sticks, and passing it out. The scouts collapsed into amiable drinking and eating.
"Druffalo, eh? Good hunting?" Dylan asked. Garret was leading Loriel up to the gathering, close enough to hear the conversation.
"It was good hunting. Just not from me." Disa answered.
"Really? Who then?" Disa smiled.
"The mageling actually."
"The elf? She killed it?"
"On her own. I just dragged it here and cleaned it."
"Good for her. Though she could have at least helped you clean it."
"She had things of her own to do."
"Like what?"
"Things of her own Dylan." Disa's tone made it clear that was his last word on the subject.
"And here she is, the founder of the feast!" Disa called as Garret and Loriel approached the edge of the fire light. The others around the fire raised theri bottle or glass to her and gave a shout of approval. "Come can get a drink and share of the meat Mageling! The scouts are gathered in one place for once. It is a time to be celebrated." He didn't say more to her from there, not wanting to presume too much. Whatever her mind was, she'd make it known to him or not. Such was her perogative. And that was fine enough by him, so long as she was still solid under fire.
human
For reasons beyond her understanding, Loriel felt herself flush with pride when Disa declared to the gathered scouts that their feast was solely due toher. Shed have expected a muttered comment, would have accepted a word of thanksbut the broad declaration surprised her. She knew Dylan was correct in that she should have helped clean it up, but Disa backed her there, too. It was enough that even Garret gave her a light clap on the shoulder; the two were still approaching the gathering, but she could hear the conversationif she didnt know better, shed have thought Disa had made sure she could hear it. Maybe he had done exactly that.
Then she reached the gathering, Garret beside her, and a toast was raised to her. That left herstunned. Never had she expected that she a dalish elf, nevermind a mage would be given a toast of celebration for the things shed done. That wasunprecedented, with the only exception she could remember being the elven Grey Warden whod killed the archdemon to end the Fourth Blight. Yet here they were three of four scouting teams, if not more, plus Harding and a few other senior scouts, all raising their bottles or mugs to her. She almost didnt feel it when Garret pressed a mug into her hand so she could drink as well. She didnt protest, but she knew to drink carefully. She didnt want to be the drunk mage that scared the heck out of everyone present.
For a few minutes scouts just milled around, greeting each other and bumping glasses or bottles or mugs together in friendship. A few even did the same with her, treating her no differently than they treated each other, and she found herself responding in kind after the first couple of surprising introductions. She wasnt used to being treated as an equal by humans, but there was no denying it was happening here. She also noted she was one of only two or three mages amongst the scout teams. Her reflection was interrupted by a tap on her elbow; when she looked, she was not surprised to see Harding wanting her attention, gesturing her to one side, slightly away from the gathered teams.
How are you settling in, Loriel? the lead scout wanted to know. Obviously, the dwarf wasnt referring to the current gathering.
As well as I can, I think, the elf replied carefully. She didnt want to reveal more than she had to, although she was feeling better after her talk with Blackwall.
Good, Harding noted. Sounds like you had a fun hunt?
I wanted to make sure my success with magic in the Fallow Mire wasnt a fluke, the elf admitted. I know, a druffalo isnt a quality target, but itll still kill me if Im not careful.
True enough. Everything okay after that? Clearly Harding was fishing to get a sense of what happened after. The lead scout hadnt missed the exchange between Disa and Dylan.
Loriel hesitated, then nodded. Iyes. She sighed softly. I learned something that fits into the history of my clan beforebefore I was cast out of it. I needed to work through those things. A chat with Blackwall helped greatly. Im okay, now.
Glad to hear it, Loriel, Harding acknowledged. It sounds personal, so I wont pry. Blackwalls got a good head on his shoulders, so if he could help you sort it out, Im grateful. Ill leave it at that. The dwarf grinned and lightly punched the mages arm. Now, lets get back there and celebrate, meet the other teams, that sort of thing. Youre an Inquisition Scout. Youre part of a team. Youve earned your place. Relax and enjoy it.
Loriel smiled faintly. Okay, Harding. She followed the lead scout back into the throng.
It wasnt long before Garret was standing in front of her, another man by his side. The other man was about the same height as Garret, maybe slightly taller, older, had a few scars on his face, weathered skin from time spent outdoorsand an upright bearing, as if from time spent in battle lines.
Loriel! Garret announced, before she could open her mouth. This is Jacques, the newest member of our team. Handy in battle, knows his way around both a blade and a campfire, as I hear things. Jacques, this is Loriel, our support mage and ranged firepower, provider of feasts, and a life-saver.
Loriel felt herself flush again at the introduction, but she couldnt stop Garret from talking. Fortunately Jacques seemed to take it all in his stride and offered his forearm in greeting, which Loriel took with as firm a grip as she could muster.
A pleasure, Loriel, the man replied. Loriel heard the trace of accent -Orlesian and pushed down the annoyance that threatened to rise within her. The Dales now lost to the elves were located in Orlais, and the Orlesians were doing a fine job of keeping the elves out of their home. That wasnt this mans fault.
Likewise, Jacques, the mage agreed. Although I fear Garrets pronouncement to be a bit exaggerated.
Dont worry about it, the warrior said nonchalantly. You keep me standing, and Ill stop the enemy from reaching you. Thats good enough for me.
Sounds good to me, too, Loriel acknowledged with a nod of her head, as the two released their grips.
Okay, then, Garret chimed in, a smile on his lips. I need to let Jacques get back to the fire before we start eating charcoal instead of cooked meat. Jacques grinned faintly, then bobbed his head and disappeared into the crowd.
And you stay close, Loriel, Garret added as Jacques vanished. Rumour has it that well be getting new orders and assignments soon. Some place warm would be nice.
Couldnt be worse than the Mire, surely, Loriel agreed.
Indeed. Anyway, Im going to mingle. You should, too. Garret placed his hand on the mages shoulder, gave it a light squeeze, then headed off to find people to talk with. Loriel nodded to the man as he departed, then she scanned through the crowd, looking for her sergeant. She needed to speak with him, and sooner rather than later would be preferable