There and Back Again Ch. 051-052

Chapter Fifty-One: Reunions

Gearing up in the morning was somewhat depressing, overall; no more beds, no more clean linens, no more bathing chambers with hot water on demand. And it may have been illusory, but I'd felt safe, relatively, in Denerim, while being back on the road was decidedly...not. Not that being practically right under Loghain's nose was particularly risk-free, either, though. Whatever, at least there was a bed.

I sucked it up and pulled on my gear, breastplate now not rubbing awkwardly, repaired bracer finally not leaving me feeling lopsided, and I spent a moment thankful for Wade. The helmet was still going to drive me crazy, but at least it could wait until after breakfast. I helped Alistair gear up -- the dragonbone was surprisingly light, compared to his old gear, but still awkward to do alone. It looked snazzy though, and I told him so. He grinned and blushed, as usual.

Everyone else was stumbling into the dining room with backpacks on just as we were, and we all indulged in one more well-cooked meal before finally donning helmets and setting off. With so few people out and about so early, we made it unmolested to the market district. We had split up the list of things to acquire, and planned to divide into two groups to get everything done quickly. Alistair and I ended up with Leliana accompanying us. For once, I actually carried my own backpack -- all of the bags were largely empty since we'd sold our stash of junk, so mine had only my Earth clothes and gadgets.

The changes to the market district were noticeable immediately as we turned the corner and it came into view. The first was the general lack of mercenaries standing around doing nothing. There were a few small groups of armed men, but they actually appeared to be patrolling, sort of, and were generally better equipped than the ones I'd seen on previous visits. The only other armed or armoured people were alone, and seemed to be actually shopping, or personal guards for those who were. There definitely weren't any who seemed to be collecting money from their 'employers'.

The merchants seemed less jumpy than previously. Some were actually smiling, and none stared at us with the fear we'd seen earlier in the week. Sergeant Kylon was standing at the centre of the busy area, looking around with a satisfied expression, shouting orders to another man, who seemed to be sending runners and relaying orders to those on patrol. It was organised, quiet, and unobtrusive. There were even nobles wandering about shopping; I wondered if one of the pretty doll-like women was Habren Bryland, and if so, whether Zev -- or Aedan -- would pick her pockets. I grinned at the thought. I wanted to ask Alistair what was going on, but with helmets on and errands to run, I figured it would have to wait.

Leliana popped into the shoe store and the tailor's shop where she'd ordered me the gown, coming out with wrapped parcels tucked into her pack. We picked up some spices, some bread and cheese, some clothing changes for everyone -- apparently Leli had ordered them a few days prior -- and some cookies, for Sten. I stopped at a jewelry stand and bought Morrigan a gold necklace with a tear-drop shaped pendant of what might have been amethyst, and a small collection of beautiful coloured stones for Shale. It was cliché, but if it would help, I was willing. When we met back up with the others, Aedan had picked up some sort of amulet for Dariel, as well as food stuffs, and sharpening stones for our weapons. With packs full of supplies, we finally got ready to leave Denerim.

The gate was quite busy, with wagons, carriages, and plenty of people on foot, and we all stuck close together to avoid separation. My hand was firmly gripping Alistair's shoulder, as he took the lead parting the crowds and finding us a path out. Aedan's hand was on my shoulder in turn, until we were a few dozen yards outside the city, when I heard him mutter something unintelligible and let go. I turned in time to see him spin, dagger drawn and held to the throat of an armoured man in a full helmet, who had evidently been following us. Alistair had half-drawn his sword, I saw the glint of steel in Zevran's hands, and even Wynne had gripped her 'walking stick' in a threatening manner when the figure reached up nonchalantly and pulled off the helmet.

"I am pleased to see you remain vigilant. You've got me, I surrender." He smirked.

It was almost comical as everyone drew in a sigh of relief at the sight of the dark-skinned, clean-shaven man of obvious Rivaini descent, and then chaos reigned as Alistair tried to hug him, Aedan scolded him for sneaking up on us, and everyone else just put away their weapons.

After a few minutes of nodding, vaguely, in Aedan's direction and clapping both Aedan and Alistair on the back in greeting, he finally turned to me and the rest of our party.

"Tomas." I smiled, though I knew no one could see it. He hugged me, and I chuckled. "It's good to see you again."

Greetings finally complete, he put his helmet back on and gestured to Aedan. "Mind if I follow you for a while? I'm assuming you have a camp somewhere, perhaps we can talk there?"

We all headed out, Aedan leading as we turned off the road to cut cross-country towards where Morrigan and the others waited. Before long, we were out of sight of the walls and the road, and we all stowed our helmets. I breathed a sigh of relief; full helms are stuffy. Alistair reached back to take my hand, and I saw Tomas notice it with a small smile. He told us, as we walked, that he had been scouting in the Wilds, but had yet to locate the Archdemon. The horde had been spreading, more slowly than he expected but still quickly enough to cause problems, and was threatening the southern edge of the Bannorn. The Wilds had been virtually swallowed by the Blight.

We updated him on finding the Dalish and securing their aid, killing Flemeth, and the ambush that brought us Dariel. He was introduced to Gorim, who vaguely recognised him from official Grey Warden visits in Orzammar years before. We didn't get into the details of why Gorim was with us, deciding to save that for back at camp, so we would only have to tell the story once.

I was smiling 'til my cheeks hurt; I was hand-in-hand with the man I loved, spending time with my brother, and my surrogate father, sister, and grandmother. I couldn't have been happier. I giggled and skipped as I walked, and everyone else's pleased expressions mirrored my own. We were all energetic, from having a rest the day before, and we made good time.

About halfway to the campsite, we noticed a suspiciously large bird flying overhead; in moments, Morrigan landed beside us and changed back to human form. It was a fascinating process to watch, as always; she shimmered and stretched, and suddenly there was a scantily-clad woman walking with us. She stepped up beside me, and I released Alistair's hand to pull her into a hug, which she tolerated impatiently.

I was surprised when she just kept walking with us; I'd have expected her to change back and wing off, preferring to be alone. When I said as much, she flushed slightly and looked away before replying, quietly enough that no one else could hear.

"I do not always wish to be alone. I have had enough solitude in the last week, and your company is preferable to that...that...cretin the Warden saddled us with."

"Oh, dear, has Dariel been pestering you?"

"He will not desist! Teach me, talk to me, tell me about your mother... He makes the Warden look positively taciturn. I spent half of the past week alone in a tree, avoiding him. I had not realised what a benefit it was that you knew much about me prior to our first meeting, so I had fewer questions to answer."

I chuckled. "I'm not surprised. He looked a bit...smitten, before we left. You can't blame him -- you are a beautiful woman. And probably the only female apostate he's ever met. Possibly the only woman he ever talked to -- all of his mercenary friends were male."

She sniffed. "It shows. He has no idea how to talk to a woman. I'd prefer being propositioned by the Crow again to his pathetic attempts at flirting."

I choked out laughter as Zevran, his timing impeccable as always, spoke up from behind us, where he'd apparently been listening. "I am certainly happy to oblige, oh beauteous Witch; Aedan has expanded his horizons once, I'm sure I could convince him to try it again..."

Morrigan looked both intrigued and disgusted, which made me laugh harder.

"Or perhaps I could just take the little elf under my wing, so to speak, and teach him a few things about how to more productively water a mature flower such as yourself, no?" He reached out as if to put his arm around her shoulders.

"Touch me again, Assassin, and we shall see whether you remain as effective in a fight with only one hand."

The two of them continued bickering, mostly good-naturedly, and I grinned and left them to it. Instead, I elbowed my way in between Aedan and Alistair, who were walking with Tomas.

"So is one of you going to tell me what the hell that was all about in the Market?"

Alistair flushed and looked away, while Aedan gave me his best innocent look. "Whatever are you talking about, dear sister?"

Tomas smirked, so even he was in on the joke, and I was annoyed. "You know damn well. All the mercenaries were gone, and the guards suddenly had patrols? You expect me to believe you had no part in that?"

Aedan smiled. "I don't. Alistair told you about the Blackstone Irregulars -- we just helped them out a bit. We 'encouraged' some of the dumber, meaner mercs to go elsewhere, and the smarter ones we sent to the Irregulars or the guard for recruitment. Which reminds me." He fumbled in his pack for a moment, and handed me over two coin purses, followed by handing one larger one to Alistair and two more to Tomas. "We should split the coin in case someone gets robbed."

I looked into the top of one of the purses -- it was filled to the brim with gold sovereigns. I quickly tied it shut again, putting one into my pack and sticking the other behind the little sash I wore as a belt. "Maker's Breath, Aedan, where did you get that much coin? What did you do?"

He grinned cheekily. "We might have sort of...assassinated the leaders of the various mercenary groups and stolen their payroll. As encouragement for the mercenaries to find other employment."

Tomas looked concerned. "Aedan..."

"Don't worry. No one knows it was us -- they don't even know we were in town. We apparently got a reputation -- they think it was one person, and they're calling him the 'Dark Wolf'. And we tried to give the coin back to the merchants in the market, but we had no way of knowing how much to give to each. We spoke to a few who we thought might be a little more honest, and they all refused to take any coin. They were so happy to have the mercenaries gone, they didn't even care. So I gave half of it to Sergeant Kylon to hire some guards, and made Kylon promise to keep the mercs out of Denerim. With all the nobility scared, he didn't have enough man-power to keep the peace. Now he does."

I whistled. "This was half of the gold? Wow. Extortion pays well."

"Um. About a quarter, honestly. I gave another quarter to Hahren Valendrian for use on supplies to keep the plaque at bay. I can't help but notice you're not...yelling at me. Not that I'm complaining, mind you, but I thought you'd be angry."

"I'm a little miffed that you didn't just tell me what you were doing. I wouldn't have wanted to participate, but I'm not so fragile that I can't stand the truth. I'm not angry you took down those gangs. They deserved their fate, really. And I'm thrilled you managed to get into the Alienage and help out. It's truly despicable how the elves live there."

Aedan stared at me like I had three heads, and then strode off to walk by himself for a while, muttering under his breath. Alistair and I exchanged glances, and I started to giggle. "Good to know I'm not always predictable."

"I'm just hoping you aren't mad at me." Alistair looked nervous.

"About not telling me? I'm guessing Aedan made you promise not to. Would you have told me, if he hadn't?"

"Maker, yes. I hated lying to you."

"Then I'm not mad at you."

I went up on my tiptoes to kiss my templar on the cheek, and he responded by wrapping his arms around my waist and swinging me around while I squealed and giggled. He finally put me down, kissing me softly and brushing my hair out of my eyes. "Have I told you lately that I love you? Yes? Well, it won't kill you to hear it again, will it?"

Tomas smiled. "So you two managed to work through your...differences?"

I laughed, disentangling from Alistair. "If you mean we stopped being complete idiots, then yes."

He put one gauntleted hand on each of our shoulders. "I'm pleased. You both deserve some happiness." We both blushed, but Alistair took my hand again. "I have to ask, Sierra. I've heard you do it several times, but why do you refer to Aedan as 'brother'?"

"Oh! I forgot we didn't tell you. Um. So back where we found the Sacred Ashes? We met the...spirit, I guess, of Bryce Cousland. He told me that Aedan and I were twins, but that somehow my soul, or whatever, got born on Earth instead of here. We're not clear what happened to the body that was born here, but the Couslands never told Aedan about me because they didn't want him to think he was competing with a ghost for their affection. We had figured out a long time ago that we had the same birthday."

He stared at me for a moment, and I wondered if he was looking for a family resemblance. He opened his mouth as if to speak, but nothing came out for a few humourous moments.

He finally got his voice working again. "That...explains a few things."

"Yep. But brings up even more questions. Like how I ended up there, how I'm here now, and whether I can manage to stick around. I made a whole list of questions we can't answer back in Denerim."

"So...you're a Cousland."

"Well, sort of, I suppose. Not that anyone will believe it. I have dark hair, but that's where my resemblance to Aedan or Fergus ends. And why would anyone believe the crazy girl is a Cousland they'd never heard of before? I think I'll just stick with Jones, for now. Besides, I earned it."

Tomas and Alistair both looked confused. Tomas spoke. "Is it some sort of reward?"

"Nooo. No. Um...well, I told you I was raised as a foster-child?" Alistair nodded; I spent a few moments explaining that to Tomas. "Most foster-kids still have their names. Their parents are known, and they keep the names they were born with. I didn't have a name. The social workers who dealt with me as an infant had to name me. Most baby girls with no name in the system are called Jane; I have no idea how I ended up as Sierra. But if your parents aren't known, they give you the last name Jones. It's supposed to be a common name, but it isn't, not really. And everyone in the foster system knows that if you're a Jones, you were abandoned at birth, that your parents wouldn't even name you. It was a way that the other foster kids could discriminate. 'My parents may be criminals, but at least they wanted me enough to give me a name.' There was a hierarchy, and the Jones' were always at the bottom of it. I didn't care, really, but I made it a point of pride for myself and the other Jones' I ran into. No one could use it to pick on us if we were proud of it, if we refused to be ashamed of it. Now, I'm rather...attached to it, I suppose."

Alistair kissed my hand, and Tomas patted me on the shoulder again. They obviously didn't know what to say, but that was okay. There was nothing to say. It was part of who I was; I didn't want pity because of it. That they accepted me was enough.

We made it back to the campsite a few minutes later, and I greeted Shale, Sten, and Dariel enthusiastically. Sten almost smiled at me; I just about fell over in surprise. Dariel was introduced to Tomas, and everyone was introduced to Gorim, and then we settled in to discuss our next moves.

The plan was still to go to Soldier's Peak and then Orzammar, and Tomas decided to accompany us. He wanted to see the Peak, and he was hoping to get some idea of darkspawn movements from the dwarves. He was very interested when I mentioned that we might actually see the Archdemon in the Deep Roads.

I mentioned my concerns about Wynne, Leliana, and Morrigan accompanying us into the Deep Roads, and Tomas grimaced. At Alistair and Aedan's confused look, I sighed, sat back, closed my eyes, and tried to remember.

"First day they come and catch everyone. Second day they beat us, and eat some for meat. Third day the men are all gnawed on again. Fourth day we wait, and fear for our fate. Fifth day they return, and it's another girl's turn. Sixth day her screams we hear in our dreams. Seventh day she grew as in her mouth they spew. Eighth day we hate it as she is violated. Ninth day she grins and devours her kin. Now she does feast, as she's become the beast."

Tomas spoke. "Broodmother." He glanced around at the group, whose expressions ranged from disgusted to terrified, grimaced again, and continued. "Have you never wondered how darkspawn reproduce? There are no female darkspawn."

"We will see one in Bownammar."

Tomas nodded slowly. "They take females. They kill the men, but the women they...change. They become broodmothers. Massive, tentacled creatures that give birth to thousands of darkspawn. Human females give birth to Hurlocks, dwarves to Genlocks. Elves spawn Shrieks, and Qunari produce Ogres. It's supposed to be a secret, but honestly, it's a secret even I don't understand. Everyone should know. No female, of any race, should ever go near the Deep Roads."

Gorim spoke. "Selfish bastards! They knew, and they didn't tell the dwarves? The Legion takes women! We have to tell them. The Assembly, the Legion."

"You're not going into the Deep Roads either, Sierra." Aedan looked nauseous.

I laughed drily. "I don't have much choice, do I? If I don't go with you, I'll just disappear and end up alone somewhere in the Deep Roads. That's not an improvement."

"But..."

"I know, Aedan. Not my idea, remember?"

He sighed, and Alistair gripped my hand harder. Suddenly Gorim spoke up.

"What do you mean, disappear?"

We spent a few minutes convincing Dariel and Gorim of my identity; neither of them had heard the full story about me. I didn't think it worked, entirely, though the fact that everyone else, even Shale, now accepted it as fact helped. They'll believe soon enough - I'll disappear and they won't have much choice.

They asked some rather intelligent questions. Dariel asked about himself in the 'performance', and I was stumped. It must have been something to do with the butterfly effect of me showing up in Thedas - Loghain got frustrated faster, and ordered a second assassination attempt. I couldn't explain it. And where he would have been if he hadn't met us, I couldn't even guess.

We finally packed up the camp and headed out onto the main road leading to Soldier's Peak. Talking to Aedan, he explained that the old Warden Base was probably technically in the Arling of Amaranthine, but because of its location on a mountain top and the fact that it belonged to the Wardens, it was not part of a vassalage. That meant it didn't have any way of sustaining itself, and would need to rely on gold from Weisshaupt to buy supplies, since it had no arable land.

We discussed the plans, both for Avernus and for closing the tears in the Veil. I felt Avernus should be allowed to continue experimenting, just not allowed to use blood magic anymore. Aedan and Alistair were a bit more disgusted, but Tomas was pragmatic about it. He agreed that killing him would be a waste of the research he'd already done, that it would be making all those men's deaths meaningless. I had personal reasons for wanting him alive - I hoped he might know something about how I'd gotten to Thedas, as well as hoping he knew some way to extend the time before a Warden's Calling. He'd managed to put his off for centuries with blood magic; maybe he'd learned a way to duplicate it for those without. In the end, both Aedan and Alistair conceded the point, if reluctantly.