trainingwings | action:

[Her armor and her sword are safely hidden away. Her longbow -- a gift from the camp of the Dalish she met after leaving her own clan -- is all the protection she has. (Well, and a layer of leather stitched against her chest, under her loose, long shirt and sewn to the inside of the pants she wears.)

She makes almost no sound as she ventures through the forest from dawn to early afternoon.

Having hunted enough for supper, she comes to the village about midday, collecting cooking supplies and browsing the item shop to see if any more of her things have come.

She'll take a couple of hours to herself, getting more acquainted with this part of this strange place. For the last seven days, she's kept herself to a portion of the forest that reminded her most of her clan. Not that she hasn't been giving the Journal a look-over every so often, speaking to a few who seem interesting or whom she has met during the short times she's come out of the woods before. (Or those who have met her in the woods.)]

Player Name: Lynn
Are you new?: N
Character Name: Lyna Mahariel
Character Fandom: Dragon Age: Origins

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Wine. Women. Men, if that is your preference. Dance, music, good food- not that stew Alistair cooks, that is not food that is some form of slow acting poison I am sure of it, flirting, fighting, love making...There is a great deal to living beyond holding a grudge for however long you have left.

[He knows that furious despair very well. Faced it- and found solace in the most unlikely of places. Found a place and a purpose at his Warden's side. Knowing himself, and considering how much of what they lived and experienced and how it ran parallel to one another? He can't help but think the same of her Zevran. Where he'd met a human woman worthy of admiration, her Zevran met mercy at the hands of one of his own.

He was probably far more comfortable with that than he had been with his Warden. Being in debt to a human can feel very odd at times.]

I assure you Lyna, if he is at all like me? He enjoyed every word of it. If not for the content then for the very alluring shapes your lips make when you speak. [A smirk, quick and easy.] I may not know you as well as he, but I certainly look forward to getting to know you. I must say you've got the upper hand here, if he's told you much of our past.

[She laughs just a little.]

I know some things. [A lot, actually. He's told her, in some ways, more about himself than she's revealed about herself. She's spoken of the Dalish, but that's lore and the clan's history. She's hinted at her parents' fate... but that's about it.

She hasn't really spoken about Tamlen, though she ought to have. He shared stories of friends past... and stood with him against one. Yet, she hadn't shared the story of the shade among the creatures that had attacked their camp. She hasn't talked about her Joining, of course. That, she has sworn to secrecy.

But this... is Zevran, certainly. Those remarks. She smiles.]

I can pretend I know nothing of it, if you'd prefer.

[And then. Because it's deserved.]

Andaran atish'an.

Well if that isn't ambiguous I do not know what is.

[He may not know her, but he finds he likes her from that alone. She spared him and found him, a version of him, to be good company. Obviously she has excellent taste. Whatever he may have shared with her, this alternate self, it would most likely be things he would feel well worth sharing in time. She has earned his trust in one world. Why not allow her to do the same in another?

He steps close and extends a hand to her, grinning.]

Oh no, that would make this terribly boring. I find the allure of a woman well versed in my own habits quite alluring. Enticing, even.

[Lyna looks at him for a moment. She smiles then, nodding just a bit as she reached out and took his hand. Her grip was firm but not aggressive.]

If I... may ask...

Your quest with the Wardens you know. Is it to stop the Blight?

How does it fare?

[There's still too much to worry about. The Landsmeet is won, but that is it. There's still a battle to fight, an Archdemon to slay...]

[There's a sense of camaraderie in the shake- of course it will not stand to leave it at that. He dips into a bow and raises her hand to her lips, kissing her knuckles. Much better.]

Mm? Ask anything. I may or may not answer honestly.

[He stands and releases her hand, brow quirked. Then the question. That so serious question.]

Aaah, that. Well. We were set to fight the Blight and correct the wrongs done to the Wardens by Logain until Alistair had the wonderful idea to flee to Orlais and start up a theater troupe. I think he simply wants to hop borders for the cheese.

[She wants to be angry. It's a serious matter, and she's desperate for news. There is no one to tell her how to slay an Archdemon... so if the other Warden has done it.

But she can't be angry. It's a dark question, and Zevran tries to keep her spirits up.

So, she doesn't smile, but her voice is warm enough.]

You should have seen how he looked at me after the Brecilian Forest. I thought he might flee.

And I would not blame him for it. It was a terribly unsettling venture, that...if I might ask, before I answer your earlier question seriously-

What did you choose, then?

[It would be interesting to see how different a Dalish would have handled the situation. Elissa had been horribly conflicted- she hadn't felt right making the choice for them. Honestly, he could not fault her for it.]

Before I joined the Gray Wardens, the forest around our camp became inhabited by darkspawn. You could feel the taint in the ground, trees, and air.

[She frowns, remembering it. Perhaps she doesn't need to tell Zevran, but it all feeds into her perspective, in a way.]

It wasn't the same in the Brecilian Forest, but the evil was... everywhere. So much hate.

We chose our way of life to be free. We want a homeland, not to subjigate others. That is not the purpose of the Dalish.

What Zathrian did... offended every lesson I'd learned from the hahren and keeper of my clan. In the immediate aftermath... I would have supported him. If it had been those things who had taken his family, I would have killed them all and enjoyed it.

[She can't regret thinking it. Too many Dalish lives are still lost to humans for her to pity them as a whole.]

But those men were long dead.

And it was time for a new Keeper, for the good of the clan. He lifted the curse and joined his family.

...then you chose much as Elissa did, though for more personal reasons.

[And yet they were reasons he could respect easily enough. He couldn't imagine what it must have been like as a Dalish to make that choice, to witness what he had seen as an elf and an outsider and know the people, know the suffering. And have to choose. Her honesty pulls a wry smile from him- this indeed is a woman he could come to respect, to extend the very beginnings of some manner of trust. He could see that easily enough.]

I do not know how the journey ends, I fear. The forest, the tower, the ashes, those have come and gone. When I was pulled to this world we were in the middle of exploring the deep roads. There are few things that give me pause- but that place? I do not relish what it is we will find.

The Deep Roads.

[There's bile in her throat even saying it. And to think all Gray Wardens were supposed to walk those paths at the end of their days...

No.

She'd made Alistair swear to her when she had come through that trial, when they were back in the open air and she could feel the sun trying to warm the chill she could no longer bear, that he would see her put to the sword before the taint possessed her so much as to follow that custom. The sword, the bow, the flame. Anything but to return to the Deep Roads.

For Gray Warden or not, she doubted any woman could see what lay there, the horrors of the darkspawn, and not prefer a certain death to the ideals of the order. Let the men uphold those, she would not run that risk.]

After that, your warden will need a friend. More than anything, she will need a friend.

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