Strangers with Cookies

Epilogue

"I'm not
saying it again."

Sten lifts his head
from the mass of pillows and blankets that became their bed on the
first night of the voyage after the bunks proved too small for him to
sleep in. "Your accent is embarrassing, kadan."

Adhara scowls and
presses closer into his chest. "I'm tired. And don't we have
three more weeks of being stuck on this boat?"

"It will take
more than three weeks to learn my tongue," he says into her
hair.

"Exactly. So
let me sleep." She licks a slow trail along his neck, and he
sighs.

"You do not
seem particularly tired."

"Well, you're
the one who told me I won't be able to stay with you in Seheron after
I got on the sodding ship." When he scowls, she laughs at him.
"It's fine, lethallin. I don't want the Ben-Hessrath
taking you away."

"Ben-Hassrath,"
he corrects.

Adhara yawns.
"Benhes-Rith."

"You are doing
this intentionally."

"Ben-Hassrath,"
she replies, and proves him right.

"That will
suffice."

She closes her eyes
again, and he rolls over and pulls her to his chest. His language has
never sounded so interesting.

...Vashedan, now he
is no longer tired. He runs his hands down her back, brushing his
fingertips against her skin with deliberate slowness until it is her
turn to sigh.

“Souver'inan
isala hamin.” Her tone is scolding, but her eyes are merry.

“You are a
terrible teacher. I don't know those words.”

“Try harder
to learn. Knowing elvish could come in handy in your lands.”

“Or create
cause for suspicion,” he replies, pulling her upward and
nipping at her neck. “Tell me what you said.”

“'Weary eyes
need rest.'” Her voice contains the faintest hint of groan, and
he smiles against her neck as he hears it.

“You hardly
sound weary, kadan.”

“Ma
nuvenin,” she replies, and covers her mouth with his.

He will miss this.
Sten knows this, and he knows that she will, as well, but he has yet
to doubt her decision to travel with him. Adhara is learning his
language quickly, and his fellow qunari will be as confused by her
body language as Sten was when they first met.

They will be safe.
Sten will show her his homeland, and the foods he has missed, and
hear her learn the language and smell her scent in a land that will
do it justice. She will not be alone.

...But she still
will not be with her people. And no matter how much elvish he learns,
he will remain a qunari. He remembers how she looked among her people
in the Brecilian Forest and asks a question that makes her muscles
tense.

"Why did you
not go home?"

"I've told
you," she mutters. "It's my duty."

Sten scowls. "Grey
Warden duty is in your blood, kadan. That is why you are on
this ship with me."

Adhara giggles,
which he did not expect. "Not my duty as a Grey Warden, but as a
Dalish."

Her duty as a
Dalish is preventing her from returning to her people? "Parshaara,
you are not making sense."

She sits up on the
blankets beside him, shivering slightly as the sheet covering her
slides around her waist. In the gloom, her tattoo appears grey rather
than purple. "Darkspawn can sense Grey Wardens, and they often
seek them out. Remember the shriek attack?"

Sten nods. Neither
of them mention her hunting partner.

"Without the
archdemon's call to follow, I'm worried that will happen more often."
She sighs and brushes a loose strand of hair from her eyes. "If
I went home, I would be endangering my people."

"And so you
endanger mine instead?"

She grins at him.
"I'm a Grey Warden, Sten. It's about time you qunari took a
vested interest in protecting your lands from darkspawn, wouldn't you
say?"

...Vashedan.
"What are you planning, kadan?"

"You'll see,"
she murmurs, pressing into his chest. "You'll see."

Sten resists the
urge to rub at his temples and worry about the arishok. "You are
going to get us both killed."

"Don't tempt
the trickster," she retorts, and pulls him upward by his braids
for a kiss.

[A/N: Sorry that
it took so long to finish posting this on AFF. It's actually been
done for a couple of months, but I moved across country and didn't
have time to post the files here. If you read this and liked it, you
can get the final draft (a pretty .pdf with images, etc) here:
http://peopleofthedas.dreamwidth.org/40315.html

Thanks for
reading SWC. I love you all!]