Mythal's Favour: A Dragon Age Origins Fan Fiction

Chapter 22

Chapter 22 – Entering the Brecilian Forest

The party had left Denerim early in the morning. They had been on the road for almost two hours, when Wynne became unusually quiet. Ayu looked out from the over the edge of the cart. The day was warm and sunny, so they had removed most of the canvas cover from the wagon.

“This is where it happened, isn't it Wynne?” Ayu looked to the elderly mage sitting across from her.

Wynne nodded sadly. “It was here,” she pointed to just down the road, “that I found Anarya and the Templars.”

“Bodhan, please stop the cart.” Ayu called up to the dwarf.

He pulled the cart off the road and stopped. “Is anything the matter dear Warden?” he asked.

“We just need a few minutes, please. Take a little break and stretch your legs.” Ayu jumped out of the cart and her companions followed suit.

Wynne led the way into the forest proper. They walked a few hundred yards before the mage stopped near a tall and gnarled tree. “This is where we found your father. Right here against the tree.”

Ayu knelt in the grass and touched the place where her father had sat. Tears pricked her eyes. “I can see him here. The memory is not my own, I was far too little yet. Mythal watched him die, and she could not help him, though she wishes that she could have. The vision is hers.” Ayu wiped a stray tear from her cheek.

“I promised to take you to where we buried them.” Wynne offered. “Do you still want to go?”

Ayu nodded. “Yes, please. I wish to see them.”

“This way.”

Wynne moved deeper into the forest, carefully picking her way over tangled tree roots and bushes. “I don't remember it being so difficult to get there.”

“The forest has had twenty-odd years to reclaim the land.”

“Don't make me feel older than I already do, Ayu.” There was humor in Wynne's voice as she spoke. “Ah, here we are.”

Wynne stopped at the crest of a hill, overlooking a valley with a creek running clear through it. Two tall fruit trees stood on the hill, their branches still covered in silky, pale pink flowers. As the group stood in silence, the gentle breeze blew petals off the branches. They floated down from high above, dusting Ayu in a layer of pink. Wynne showed her two flat stones, laid side-by-side in the swaying grass.

“We could not engrave them, with all our magic; we could not do such a simple thing.” Wynne held a kerchief to her face.