Chapter Text
Duncan sighed at Tabris who was using the bedpost to sharpen her daggers. "Honestly, we are guests, we can't be using their furniture as whetstones, Sylvia."
"They have enough furniture to spare." Tabris said cuttingly, with another quick drag of her knife.
"You remember what I said about fighting?"
"No picking fights just because I'm angry." Tabris mocked and Duncan resisted the urge to slam his head repeatedly against the nearest wall.
"I have an audience with the king this afternoon. Would you like to come?" he asked.
"No, just finish quickly. Let's get out of here."
Duncan massaged at his temples.
***
"So, you didn't get any recruits in Orzammar, then?" Tabris asked him slyly.
"Don't get cheeky with me."
"I wasn't." she said. "So, what? The dwarves said they were too good for you?"
Duncan frowned. "The king's middle child, his daughter, she looked promising but she's also Endrin's favorite. I doubt he'd part from her willingly."
"That's the one that won their Proving, or something, right?"
"That's the one."
They walked in silence for a bit until they reached the next clump of darkspawn in the deep roads.
***
Sereda stumbled a bit and cursed. The deepstalker had managed to bite out a chunk in her leg. It wasn't too bad, but it was bleeding and it made it quite hard to walk. Not much of a problem, she thought to herself, they've left me here to die anyhow. Why would I need to walk?
She heard a screech from a cavern behind her and flinched. Ancestors, where were the exits? Or the thaigs? Or anything? It was just endless tunnels as far as the eye could see. For once in Sereda's life, she cursed the world for dwarven construction.
***
Duncan tensed as he heard a sudden scuffle. It was too subtle to be darkspawn and it put him on edge. What else could be down here?, he thought, as he saw Tabris stiffen too, her hands flying to the daggers strapped to her back.
The noise was heard again and Tabris whipped her head around to look at a gaping hole in the tunnels a few feet away from where they stood. She held a hand up to Duncan and moved forward before Duncan had the chance to tell her that he was in charge here and didn't need to wait behind.
He watched as Tabris creeped forward to the opening and when she finally reached the gap, pounced. Duncan was for a split second awed by her form, watching as she jumped onto the shadowy figure near the opening and used the opponents larger mass against them, flipping them over. Tabris was quick to pull a knife out and press the figure down threateningly.
"Get off me, elf!" The thing growled and Duncan realized it definitely wasn't a darkspawn.
"Sylvia," he said carefully approaching, but the elf had not sheathed her daggers.
"I have a name," Tabris said. "And it's not elf. And frankly, that's rude to call people by their race."
"It's not like you were in the mood for introductions with all the flipping, Pointy." The other person growled and Duncan heard Tabris gasp in anger.
"Sylvia, get off, now." he used a hand to help drag the elf off the other person, who he now saw was a dwarf. A dwarf he knew. "Aeducan? I mean, Sereda, was it?"
The dwarf looked over at him and her eyes widened in vague recollection. She opened her mouth as if to answer but was interrupted by Tabris.
"Pointy?" She said in shock. "How dare you, that is so rude, that is... that is racist. You're practically a shem."
Aeducan looked at her in horror. "Are you saying I'm like a human?"
"Well, not completely." Tabris gave her a smug smile. "More like a short shem."
"Why you little -" Aeducan's hand went to the sword strapped to her waist and Duncan stepped forward.
"The little one is you, though, dwarf." Tabris said snidely and Duncan stepped firmly in between the two before one was impaled.
"Stop." he said firmly and they both froze. "Sylvia, shut up for just a little bit." Tabris looked aghast but Duncan ignored her and turned to Aeducan. "Lady Aeducan, right? King Endrin's daughter? What are you doing here?"
Aeducan's face, which had been filled with anger before, suddenly crumbled and Duncan saw the glimpse of her crushed expression before it was quickly sealed over with a stony look that betrayed no emotion. "I am not Lady Aeducan any longer. I was exiled." she said simply. "I was charged with killing my brother Trian and was exiled into the deep roads."
"Practically an execution." Duncan stated simply and Aeducan nodded.
There was a silent beat which Tabris interrupted with "Did you actually do it? Kill your own brother?"
Duncan opened his mouth to chastise her but Aeducan was already replying. "Does it matter, Pointy? Either way, I do know exactly how to kill someone."
"I'd be more worried if I thought you could reach this high, short shem."
"Alright." Duncan said loudly before the conversation could get to blows again. "My lady -" he began, but Aeducan cut him off.
"I am not a lady, my house has been stripped from me. Please do away with all the formalities."
"Very well." Duncan said. "Sereda, I see no reason for you to wander the Deep Roads for your crimes. If the Maker had willed you not to live, you would not have found us at all. As leader of the Grey Wardens, I would like to formally invite you to join our order."
"It's not like I have much of a choice, do I?" Aeducan said bitterly.
"Oh, so you think you're too good for joining the Wardens?" Tabris asked with a glare at the dwarf who glared back.
"Sylvia, if I recall correctly, you had very similar thoughts about joining." Duncan said diplomatically. Tabris merely grumbled under her breath. He smiled at the dwarven recruit. "Sereda, we would be honored to have you."
Aeducan gave a small incline of her head in response.
"Now, if we're all done bickering, let's get a move on. The sooner we get out of these deep roads, the sooner I get a good night's sleep." Duncan proclaimed.
He wisely decided to ignore it a few minutes later when he heard Tabris ask Aeducan how the weather was down there and again when he heard Aeducan punch Tabris' arm in response.
***
It was around the twenty-third time Duncan had heard his two charges bickering that he snapped.
"For the love of the Maker!" he shouted, snapping to his feet, and causing the elf and dwarf sitting near the camp fire behind him to freeze. He whirled around to face them. "Do you two never stop arguing?" he glared at the pair, his gaze shifting from Tabris to Aeducan, the dwarf looking sheepish while the elf looked defiant and yet the slightest bit scared. That hint of fear made Duncan's anger instantly die and he backed off with a sigh.
"You know what?" Duncan said. "I'm going to go stock up on more supplies. There's a small village nearby and I need a break." he gave them both a pointed look. "Do not kill each other while I'm gone." The two merely gave them innocent looks.
Duncan sighed and muttered "Where's Alistair? I miss Alistair." as he walked out of the camp.
Aeducan and Tabris turned to stare at each other with raised eyebrows.
***
Aeducan swept her sword across the whetstone forcefully.
"Can you not," Sylvia said with a growl.
"Not what?" Aeducan asked.
"Not sharpen your behemoth sword so loudly."
"I'm sorry, my sword needs to more strength to maintain its edge unlike those toothpicks you call daggers."
"How do you maintain the strength to stand on those stumps you call legs?"
"There's no need for hostility, Pointy." Aeducan said and Sylvia noticed how she easily sidestepped the comment about her height.
"Don't call me that. My name is Tabris." Sylvia said with a growl.
Aeducan dragged her sword against the whetstone and it emitted a slow screech. "Alright, Tabris." she said, the tone in her voice mocking. "So, what did you do for Duncan to take you?"
"Why do you care?" Sylvia asked.
Aeducan scoffed. "I don't. I'm trying to be civil. One of us should be mature."
Sylvia snorted. "Mature, she says." Aeducan pointedly did not answer. "How do you know I didn't join the Grey Wardens because I wanted to?" Sylvia asked.
Aeducan laughs. "Don't kid around with me, elf. I know you were there in Orzammar, yet you did not come to see the King during the assembly, demonstrating a lack of interest. You don't seem to have been with Duncan for long. You seem to have accepted your fate, yet you clearly don't look thrilled about it so not a volunteering recruit. So, I ask again, what did you do?"
Sylvia stared at the dwarf in shock. "That was... incredibly observant."
Aeducan shrugged. "Dwarven politics are not well fit for people who can't determine character." she laughed again, a bit self depreciatingly. "As evidenced by my position right now, I suppose."
"I'm not telling you what I did. I don't know if I could trust someone who killed their own brother." Sylvia glared at Aeducan. "Family is everything to me, yet you slay your own kin. I find it ridiculous Duncan even conscripted you."
Aeducan's eyes flashed dangerously. "You know what? On your feet, Ears." The dwarf picked up her sword and hefted it heavily in both hands. Sylvia's hands immediately flew to the daggers on her back. "Let's see how you hold up in a fight."
"Don't complain about losing to me tomorrow."
Aeducan laughed and charged.
***
Duncan stared at the camp in horror. One tent, his tent, had been practically shredded into pieces. The fire had gone out and all around the camp, bags were spilling open, pots and pans overturned. It was chaos.
And in the middle of the clearing were Aeducan and Tabris, both their weapons somehow having been knocked away, now pretty much wrestling each other. Aeducan had the obvious weight advantage, but Tabris' nimble fighting style made her a very difficult opponent to knock down for good.
Duncan walked over to the fighting pair and did not even attempt to stop them. Instead he chose to take a seat on one of the logs near the fire and let out a heavy sigh. That got their attention easily enough.
Slowly, Tabris and Aeducan extracted themselves from the fight and looked around the camp before staring at Duncan nervously.
"Um," Tabris said, shuffling her feet slightly.
Duncan sighed again, harder this time, wondering if there was any way to literally die from mental exhaustion. "I'm not mad," he said at last. He looked up at the two children who were still looking at their feet sheepishly. "I'm just disappointed."
"It was Tabris' fault." Aeducan said immediately. She was awarded with a whack to the shoulder.
"My fault? You challenged me!"
"You accepted!"
"Enough," Duncan said firmly. "You two can clean up camp and share a tent, I suppose. Aeducan, I am taking yours and I am going to sleep." He gave them a considering look filled with weary pain. "Promise me you won't fight." They both nodded their heads fiercely in answer. Finally, Duncan turned around and walked away resisting the urge to stomp his feet.
Aeducan kicked Tabris in the shin as soon as Duncan had turned.
Tabris glared at her and mouthed "Childish." before sticking out her tongue in response. Aeducan rolled her eyes.
***
"You wanted to know what I did?" Tabris said suddenly as they organized the items that had scattered around camp during their fight. Sereda looked at her in surprise. She had not expected an actual answer, especially after that whole response about trust and family.
"Yeah," Sereda replied, curious.
"I killed the son of an arl in Denerim." Tabris looked up at her from where she was picking up a large cooking pot.
Sereda stiffened a bit. "You killed a noble?"
"Yes," Tabris stuck out her chin almost defiantly. "He raped my cousin."
Sereda's eyes widened. Eventually, she nodded, not knowing how else to reply to the knowledge. She had never been good at trusting and it certainly did not help when someone she just met admitted that she had killed a man, albeit for a very good reason.
"Your turn." Tabris' words broke the silence pulling her from her self reflection. "Your real story." Tabris said impatiently when Sereda gave her a curious look.
"Oh." Sereda thought about Trian's cold eyes staring up at her from his dead body and shuddered. "I never killed my brother." she said eventually. "I was betrayed."
"Betrayed by whom?" Tabris asked.
"Someone important." Sereda said simply, trying to avoid thoughts of Bhalen as she had been doing since she had been cast into the Deep Roads. "I was blamed for Trian's murder and my... friend Gorim was branded an accomplice. I was sent to die and I suppose they sent him to the surface somewhere."
"Well, you didn't die, so there's that." Tabris said cheekily, with a small grin.
Sereda looked at her seriously. "Didn't die yet." she paused trying to push grim thoughts away. "You don't think this Joining ritual is all fun and smiles, do you? There's a reason not everyone is trying to be a Grey Warden when it makes you immune to the taint."
Tabris shuddered. "Well, hopefully, they don't make us kill a puppy or anything."
"This isn't a joke." Sereda snapped, dropping a pot. The clanging metal made a loud thump as it hit the floor and they both looked guiltily at Duncan's tent, making sure he hadn't woken up.
Eventually, Tabris turned back to look at her and there was an odd, almost wisdom in her eyes as she said "Of course it's not a joke. But we do what we can to get by, short shem."
And for once the nickname only made Sereda the slightest bit annoyed.
***
Duncan tried to think of simpler times, back when it was just him and Alistair scouting the roads. Alistair, who listened to what he said. Alistair who made terrible jokes and talked too much but at least he didn't fight constantly.
Well, no that was a lie. The fighting had died down somewhat since the "Camp Incident", and Duncan assumed they had gotten the actual physical blows out of their system. But now, it was almost worst, what with the inane bickering and stupid word games.
"Brown horse!" Aeducan shouted happily.
"That's not how the game works! You only get a point when you see a black dog!" Tabris replied in frustration.
"Yes, but double points for brown horse."
"No!"
"Duncan?" Aeducan asked, conferring his opinion about the stupid game.
"How about triple points for please shut up both of you, Maker's breath!" Duncan growled before trying to walk quick enough so that he would not have to hear them.
"I think that meant he agrees about brown horse." he heard Aeducan say in the distance.
***
They arrived in Ostagar sooner than anticipated, the city's huge towers looming high and the rumbling of the armies heard from at least a mile away. Sylvia was overwhelmed but Aeducan was mostly just looking at the buildings around her in increasing curiosity.
"Humans are so strange." she said eventually to which Sylvia raised a questioning eyebrow.
"Why do you say that?"
Aeducan ran a hand against the side of the tower as they passed by it. "They build things so tall, yet so incredibly unsteady. This looks like a small earthquake could bring it crashing to the ground. It's so dangerous."
Sylvia nodded slightly. "Yeah, well, humans are generally not very bright."
Aeducan caught her eye with a look that said she agreed immensely and was trying not to laugh.
"I don't know if either of you have caught on yet, but I am a human and do in fact hear things when you're talking." Duncan said loudly. And then added "Unfortunately," under his breath.
Aeducan cleared her throat. "So, since we've reached here, now what?"
They approached a bridge that led to the village of Ostagar and were suddenly accosted by the presence of a blonde human, who was grinning and shouting "Duncan!" in excitement. The man was trailed by another dark haired human with a permanent scowl that seemed to be etched on his face. "Ah," the blonde man said. "So, these must be your new recruits?"
"Yes, Your Majesty." Duncan bowed his head slightly. "These are the Grey Warden recruits, Tabris of Denerim and Aeducan of Orzammar. And this is King Cailan." he said, gesturing vaguely at the armor clad blonde.
"Oh, Duncan, no need for such formalities, especially when we are to be comrades in the great battle to come!" Cailan laughed heartily. Sylvia and Aeducan raised their eyebrows in unison.
"Great battle?" Duncan asked weakly.
The dark haired man suddenly began to speak. "King Cailan believes it is best to finish off the darkspawn right here in one giant battle. Like in the songs, he said." Sylvia could practically hear the sneer in his voice.
"Oh, Loghain, lighten up." Cailan practically whined before straightening. "Alright, wardens, I'll see you later then. Welcome to Ostagar."
"I'm going to start going grey soon." Duncan mumbled.
"You're already going grey, Duncan." Loghain said with a small chuckle, before sobering and turning to follow his King.
Duncan sighed before turning to Sylvia and Aeducan. "Alright, so there's a warden here named Alistair. Go find him and he'll explain everything. I have other things to attend to so... bye." Sylvia swore the warden practically sprinted away. She could swear she heard him say the words "Never again." and "Where's the nearest tavern, for the Maker's sake?"
"You think we stressed him out?" Sylvia asked Aeducan.
"Well us and naive King Cailan over there." Aeducan replied.
"Huh," Sylvia said. "Alright, then, let's find this Alistair."