Into the Woods (a Dragon Age fanfiction)

We Go Together

Fergus was awake bright and early the next morning. He wasn't about to get into another argument with Hawke about his timing, much as he would have loved to have enjoyed the rare peaceful sleep he'd had the night before. So many of his nights were broken by dreams, equally disturbing whether they were good or bad. He woke from them in anger, in tormented longing, in sorrow, in a desperate need to do something. It burned in him that he'd been so helpless when the people he loved were in danger.

He rubbed his eyes, splashing water onto his face from the pitcher next to his bed. Another long day ahead. He wondered what kind of test Hawke had dreamed up for them. It made sense that she would want to see how their two groups would work together, but still ... it felt as though this girl was asking him to prove himself for her. Of course, he thought, buckling on his serviceable old splintmail, it was as much her proving as his. After all, he hadn't paid her anything yet. If he didn't like the way she worked—and there was far more of the mercenary about Hawke than he had been led to believe—he could always put a stop to the whole thing. Or so he told himself. Deep down, he knew there were few people in Thedas who had the time and resources to help him and were also trustworthy. And what was so bad about being a mercenary? After all, Zev was one of Wulfric's best friends, had helped him save all of Thedas, and the elf was an assassin who openly admitted to enjoying his work.

Still, something about the blunt discussion of money, the way they had gone through those dead men's pockets that rainy night when he had first met Jennie and her companions ... it wasn't entirely civilized. Fergus thought briefly of Oriana, so intelligent, so quiet, so genteel. She had gotten her way through a woman's traditional wiles, and had made him feel good about giving in. He pressed his hand over his chest, where a gold medallion hung, carved with the faces of his wife and child.

"I will never forget," he promised them, as he promised every morning. Beyond a doubt, he knew that his parents would want him to move on, to rebuild the Cousland legacy, to find happiness elsewhere. But love couldn't take root in the tainted fields of Ferelden, or grow amidst the crumbled ruins of Highever Castle. Part of Fergus hoped that this trip would shake him up, that he would come home ready to move on. Because if he couldn't ... what good was he to anyone?

That concern was for the future, however. For today, there would be a battle to fight.

Zev was waiting for him in the entry hall of the expensive inn. "My dear Teyrn, surely you cannot allow yourself to be seen in such ... aged and disreputable armor?" Zev himself was resplendent in custom-made dragonbone.

"Master Wade's work, I see."

"It is, indeed. He was most disappointed in it." Zev's eyes twinkled.

"A gift from my brother?"

"Yes. Some day I will tell you the story ... or perhaps he will." The elf's brown eyes softened. "I will be glad to see him again."

"Zev, did you and Wulfric ... No, I don't think I want to know."

"Well, you know what they say, Fergus. I could tell you, but then I would have to kill you." Zev's laugh rang out, turning heads throughout the inn.

"Let's just go," Fergus said. He liked the assassin well enough, but the persona the man put on did get tiring. He wondered how long he would have to know Zev to see the man beneath the façade. Wulfric probably had, he thought. Knowing Wulfric, it would have been the body beneath the armor before the man beneath the body. His younger brother had never been too picky when it came to taking his pleasure.