No Armor Against Fate (a Dragon Age fanfiction)

To Hold on to the Night

The night air was cool and refreshing as they sat around the campfire. They'd been traveling through the Frostbacks for a couple of days, none of them sorry to have left the Deep Roads or Orzammar itself behind. They'd found the Paragon, gone mad from too much time in the Deep Roads, and she'd been killed by her own husband, Oghren. The continuously drunk dwarf had joined them, him and a bottomless supply of ale that he got from ... somewhere. He'd felt there was nothing left for him in Orzammar without Branka. They'd been successful in putting Lord Harrowmont on the throne, and then Thora's brother Bhelen had attacked the Assembly and they'd had to kill him. Alistair had made sure to reach the mad prince in time to strike the fatal blow and save Thora from becoming an actual kinslayer. Finally they'd left, with King Harrowmont's assurance that the dwarves would be on hand to fight the Blight, and the additional pledge of support of the Legion of the Dead. The Legion was Orzammar's deepest line of defense against the darkspawn, each member pledged to die in battle in the Deep Roads. They'd made the unusual promise to fight on the surface in honor of Thora's hard work in the Deep Roads, an honor she felt deep pride in.

Now all was quiet in the camp. The time in Orzammar had taken its toll on all of them, and tonight it seemed all they could do was sit and stare into the flames.

After a few moments, Leliana slipped into her tent and retrieved her lyre. She spent several minutes tuning it, then launched into a soft, plaintive melody.

Oghren spat into the fire. "That's not what we need, girl. Don't you sodding know any real tunes?"

Leliana looked at him, then smiled wickedly. She started strumming at a lively cadence, then began singing, "Oh, I knew a lass in Orzammar, the hairiest lass both near and far, and when you got her on the floor, you found a nug was there before."

Alistair choked on the beef jerky he was eating. Oghren clapped Leliana on the back with a hearty roar, and Thora couldn't hide a grin. "Leliana, where did you learn that little gem? I haven't heard that one since Trian and his second got drunk and decided to have a contest to see who knew the bawdiest songs."

Leliana giggled. "I'm not sure. I might have learned it the time I tried a thimbleful of real dwarven ale ... but I don't remember anything after that until I woke up two weeks later dressed in only my shoes and a towel." Everyone looked at her, and she shrugged. "You know I wasn't always a Chantry sister." She worked at a string for a moment, then asked, "Anyone have any requests?"

Blushing a little, but grinning too, Wynne leaned over and asked a question. Leliana's eyes widened. She giggled and struck up another tune Thora hadn't heard in years, and Wynne held out a hand to Oghren. The dwarf barked with laughter, but got to his feet rather unsteadily. Taking Wynne's hand, he put her fingers in his mouth. She put the other hand on her own backside, and the two of them proceeded to go through the steps of a particularly salacious dwarven folk dance. Alistair was beet red, nearly apoplectic watching his adopted grandmother perform such a ... suggestive dance. Thora was blushing a bit herself, and Leliana was laughing so hard she could hardly keep the tune.

Finally the two finished dancing. They sat down, both winded. Oghren cackled. "By the Stone, you seem like a sodding schoolteacher, but underneath your knickers must be on fire." He nudged the mage. "Any chance ol' Oghren could get a little ... singed?" Wynne, her composure nearly regained, merely stared at him, one eyebrow raised. Oghren shook his head. "Well, all right, but if you want any of Oghren Junior, you better get it quick. He doesn't wait around."

"I'll keep that in mind," Wynne said drily.

"Anyone else?" Leliana asked. "Not that I know how any of you could top that."

"I bet you could, little girl. Or you could top something else," Oghren grunted. Then he fell over the log he'd been sitting on, and lay stretched full-length on the ground, snoring deafeningly.

"One down," Thora murmured. She looked around the camp. It wouldn't be long before they'd be in Redcliffe, then heading back to Denerim for the Landsmeet. These nights together around the campfire wouldn't last much longer, and she knew she would miss them. Despite the dirt and the cold and the food all tasting of woodsmoke.

Lohengrin sighed in his sleep, rolling onto his back. Morrigan was hunched over next to her own fire, murmuring over the grimoire in her hand.

Thora looked at the three remaining around the fire with her. "You know, the three of you mean more to me than my brothers ever did," she said softly. "I can't believe how lucky I've been to have all of you with me through this."

Alistair put his arm around her. "Same here," he said. "I thought nothing could compare with how I felt being with the other Grey Wardens ... but you all feel like the family I never had."

"I am glad I left the Chantry to come with you," said Leliana. "I have grown very close to you all."

Wynne stood, her gentle smile shining down on them. "My dears," she said. "I have been training young people for ... more years than you have been alive. But I have never met any as exceptional as the three of you. And now," she said more briskly, "I believe I have shown enough of my less dignified sides tonight, and I will take these old bones off to bed."

"Wynne, you know very well that you're actually younger than all of us," Alistair said, getting to his feet to kiss the mage's hand.

"Ah, Alistair." The mage looked at him with an affectionate smile. Then she headed for her tent.

Leliana got up as well. "My friends," she said softly. "My brother and sister."

"Good night, Leliana."

The bard tucked her lyre under her arm and went to bed, leaving Alistair and Thora by the fire. He sat down again, putting his arm around the dwarf. She leaned into his chest, and they sat there for a long time, trying to hold on to the night and the fire and the companionship of the people they loved.