No Armor Against Fate (a Dragon Age fanfiction)

Chasing Waterfalls

It was resting day in camp, a chance to recoup their strength and repair equipment and restock supplies before beginning their trip up the mountain to Haven. Alistair emerged from their tent. It was a concept he was still staggered by, the idea that the two of them had a place to go that was just theirs, even if it was only a portable piece of canvas. He looked around as he emerged, waiting for the comments.

"Yes, Alistair, we get it," Morrigan said. "Prowess and all that. You can wipe the smirk off your face now." Wynne and Leliana both smothered giggles and refused to meet his eye. Alistair grinned impishly to cover his blushes. But the performance was lost since the most important member of the audience wasn't there. He lifted his eyebrows in Wynne's direction.

"I haven't seen her, Alistair. I believe she was out of camp before I was awake. She did take the dog, if it's any consolation."

"Hmm... Well, I think I'll just, maybe, take a walk. Such a nice morning and all that. Firewood?"

More smothered giggles sounded behind him as he walked out of the camp, pretending to be casual. Once he was clear of the perimeter, though, his gaze became watchful and he moved smoothly and swiftly through the forest, following the sound of the splashing waterfall they had heard last night. Alistair was pretty sure that waterfall had led to Thora's decision to camp here. He'd heard her murmur something about soap and water pressure and seen her touch the coiled mat of braids at the back of her head. He cursed inwardly his unfortunate penchant for sleeping in.

He'd seen the braids unpinned once. They fell heavily to the middle of her calves—her shapely calves, the ones that hooked around the back of his thighs and held him... No! None of those thoughts, not until later, at least, he amended the thought happily. But he longed to see the whole glorious mass loose around her, to bury his face in the silky red-gold strands, to feel it sliding across his chest ...

At last he arrived at the side of the small pool created by the little waterfall, and just in time, too, he thought. A cold dip was clearly what he was going to need right about now. But she wasn't there. "Blast!" he cursed under his breath.

"Looking for someone?" The soft voice came out of the trees near the pool, and he looked to see her watching him from a blanket spread out under a large elm. The mabari lay there with her, grinning at him. Damn dog was gloating, he thought in irritation. Thora's brown eyes crinkled at him in amusement. He could see from the array of brushes and pins spread on the blanket that he had just missed what he was hoping to see, and as he crossed the clearing to the blanket she put the last few pins in one of the coils.

Alistair supposed he could just ask her, but it seemed surprisingly intimate, even coming from someone who was sleeping with her every night. She was so private about her hair. The one time he had seen the braids unpinned she had blushed a deep crimson, a color his most suggestive remarks couldn't bring out in her.

She stood up and walked across the clearing, raising her mouth to him. He put his arms around her, lifting her up, amazed once again at how light she was for such a powerful warrior. One hand wandered up her back as he held her easily with the other. He stroked the back of her neck, feeling the coils of braid, still slightly damp.

"It's you, isn't it?" he asked abruptly, breaking the kiss. She lifted her delicate brows, looking at him quizzically. "Your hair," he clarified. "Pinned up and no-nonsense—like armor—so much of the time, but then every once in a while you let it down and it's ... well, I'm going to guess it's glorious. Like you."

"And Morrigan thinks there's something wrong with your brains," she whispered. "You see more in people than anyone I've ever met."

It was his turn to blush.

"Something like that," she said. "And thank you." Her lips turned up in what Wynne and Leliana referred to as her "Alistair smile", and as always he felt like he was standing in a ray of sunshine when she smiled at him that way. Then, wrapping her legs around his waist, she leaned forward to kiss him again, and the ray of sunshine turned to a shaft of fire.