Dragon Age: New generation

Chapter one- Part 2

Eva and Varric stopped at the stables, and the red haired lady instantly was drawn to a large fereldon frostback who was feeding on hay laid out for her. "Hedge gets more beautiful everytime I see her" Eva said to the old horsemaster, who was brushing a horse's mane, "thanks for taking care of her, Denett!" He snorted, and nodded. "My pleasure, its the least I could do, I owe that much to your mother." Eva looked at him, tilting her head slightly in curiosity. "What was she like? my mother, I mean?" She asked him, the horsemaster stopped what he was doing and looked up at the young maiden, "ay, she was a good leader, good person too. She was kind and tried to find a good side to things, ruthless in battle though, fought with the best of em' " he said, continuing his rythemetic swipe of brushing the horse's mane.

Eva closed her eyes and tried to imagine her mother, with fiery green eyes blazing as she rushed into battle, weilding a steel sword and dressed in shined silver armour, long crimson hair flowing behind her. She smiled slightly as she imagined what life would be like if she were still here by Eva's side, they would walk down the mountain slope to collect flowers, they would sword fight and she would bear witness to her parent's adorable romance. "I've said to much, forgive me, my lady" Denett apologized, "excuse me, I have to go feed the dracolisks" at that, the horsemaster walked off, which led Eva to wonder where Varric went. "Hurt, pain, the betrayal, why did she go? Why did she leave me to raise her on my own? But I'm not on my own, I have friends, we have friends. A single grain of salt into a puddle of freshwater corrupts it in seconds, is she safe from corruption? Cant go wrong... must protect her.."

"Huh?" Eva looked up to discover Cole sitting cross legged on Hedge. "Keep her safe, but she wants out... she wants to leave skyhold, the sound of screams filling his ears, memories of happiness, a first dance to the soft melody of orlesion music, nobles watching in awe. Soft and warm, a gentle embrace, a token of affection worn now by blood, love of my life limp in my arms.." The spirit trailed off, and Eva frowned, wondering who he was speaking of, but decided it best to ignore it. "Hello, Cole!" She greeted kindly, "Want to go make flowercrowns?" Eva had always thought of Cole as a brother, a creepy odd brother, but still more or less a brother.

When she was younger she remebered picking Andrastes grace in the courtyard, trying to weave the stems into an orlesion braid as Vivienne had taught her, feeling alone, when cole had appeared, comforted her as best as he could, and gave her a tiny trinket he said belonged to her mother and originally her uncle. When she later gave the rune to her father for him to identify, he had said it was given to her mother by him a while ago, and then asked her where she got it. When she answered him he had laughed and said "She always mothered Cole, it figures she would leave it to him when she...." he then trailed off and shook his head, immediately dismissing her to check in with the revered mother. Cole nodded, "If that is how I can help, then yes" Eva beamed, gave hedge a gentle pat along the snout in reassurance, and looked over her shoulder, wondering why Cole always insisted she needed help.

When the two arrived at the gardens, she instantly was drawn to the crystal grace flowers planted in neat rows. She pulled them free from the soil and instantly worked her fingers to braid them together. Eva weaved the beautiful flowers into a perfectly formed crown, and placed it on Cole's head, who was pulling embrium together clumsily together. "Here, like this!" She said, gathering some embrium of her own and weaving them together to demonstrate for her spirit friend. Soon cole had a messy crown of his own, and when Eva went to gather some more flowers, he dissapeared. The red-haired young lady looked around for the spirit, and quickly discovered him slipping his embrium crown onto Morrigan's head, who pulled it off and said words that Eva couldn't make out. Cole had said more things, which seemed to make her angrier, Eva stood up and ran to them. "Awe c'mon, Morrigan!" She said, "It looks pretty on you! Makes you look less like an imtimidating desire demon and more like a beautiful forest, er, princess!" She said, Cole looked at Eva in a confused expression, but kept quiet. "I do not see the point of this" the black haired woman said, but sighed. "Fine, I will keep it on, but do not think I will do this again." Eva beamed, knowing that Morrigan secretly liked wearing beautiful things, especially if they were shiny. The embrium in its own respect seemed to glow.

"Eev!" A familiar voice called out for her, the red-headed woman looked around, and rested her bright green eyes on a familiar she-elf. "Oh! Bye Cole and Morrigan!" She said, and ran towards the small, slim elf, hearing farewells behind her. Eva stopped in front of Sera, "Hello" she greeted kindly. "Hey, you! How would you like to play some pranks, yeah?" Sera replied, grinning mischievously. Eva nodded, and narrowed her eyes suspiciously, "who are our targets today?" She asked in a low, dramatically exaggerated voice. "Lelianna.... Josephine maybe.... your father" Eva's eyes widened, "Oh he would kill me!" She said, "Lets do it!" Sera laughed and they both ran to the main hall, stopping to catch their breaths.

"What pastry to eat first?" Eva asked the elf, who looked at the chandelier in thought. "The first one, then second, and make our way to the third" she answered. Sera and Eva had a code, so they didnt seem so obvious when pulling pranks. When wondering who they would prank first, one would ask on 'What Pastry to Eat first' and the other would answer in the order that the victims were listed. However, the issue with that matter was that often they would forget how they first listed them, or Nobles would ask them about the 'pastries'

"Okay" Eva replied, and they both walked towards the circular room located to the right of the main hall. They both walked to the second casemof stares, and peaked around at the crows, "Lelianna would still be at the War council, and this area will be empty until josephine issues some important message." Eva said to Sera, "perfect, yeah? Lets go!" She said, and they both rushed up to the top. "Hmm, We need something practical, but we dont make it personal..." The elf looked around, and eyed the spymaster's personal shrine. Eva followed her gaze, and shook her head. "We shouldnt tamper with her shrine, it means a lot to her" she said warily, "Oh! I have an idea! Lets loosen the bolts on all the bird cages, that ought to start some trouble, a tornado of feathers!" Sera laughed at Eva's request, "Lets do it, yeah? This is going to be fun!" They both ran to the bird cages, and wrapped their fingers around the tiny, poorly made screws. Twisting their wrists to loosen the cage, and when they were done with one they would quickly move to another. Soon, each of the cages were barely held together, and the two were laughing and walking to prank their next victim.

Once they arrived in Josephine's little room, they walked carefully to her desk. "Sshh" Eva warned, "They are still in the war room" the 19 year old human inched around, before glancing behind at her door. "Hmm, maybe we can do something over there" she suggested. Sera tilted her head, "What the door? Where she meets every important nobility bastard? Oh perfect! I have just the idea!" At that, the elf ran off. A short while later, Sera came back holding a pail of water. She propped it onto the door and snickered, "Practical, yet spiffy (( CastlexKate )) " she said. "Er, one problem Sera. How are we going to leave, exactly...?" Eva tilted her head slightly. The elf thought for a moment, "um, simple!" She said, taking the bucket and slowly lowering it down. They both walked through the door, unharmed, then set the trap back up. Within moments, they were long gone to pull their next prank."

Eva entered her father's 'office' first, as she wouldn't rouse suspicion. After she was sure the room was empty, she beckoned for Sera to come in. "Alright, lets see what we can do here?" The elf asked rhetorically. The young maiden wandered to the desk, where she comfortably looked at the stray papers. "Whats this...?" Her hand strayed to a particular paper that caught her eye. When she read it, anger and surprise filled her, green eyes widening with rage. She turned around and left the small building, leaving a very confused Sera and hugging the paper to her chest.

It read:

Lyrium shipment 2 sovereigns

- Small crateful for Cullen Rutherford
- 24 bottles delivered
- To be delivered around the back of Skyhold, in secret. Otherwise

To be given straight to Ser Rutherford himself.

Courtousy of Brother Samuel Sheldrake of the Chantry