Abandoned Sanctuary

Title: Abandoned Sanctuary
Chapter Four: Closer

And I just can’t pull myself away
Under her spell I can’t break
I just can’t stop
And I just can’t bring myself away
But I don’t want to escape
I just can’t stop

~Closer
-Ne-Yo

Aslinn took a step back away from Alistair and towards the edge of hill. She was a Miqo’te and Miqo’te’s physics were built for hunting—strong legs, long tail for quick maneuvering. She would be able to make the leap off the hill and have a head start if anyone in the group decided to attack. I wouldn’na stand a chance if a spell or arrow hit mah, Aslinn thought to herself.

“What are you doing, Alistair?” Laurena questioned.

He kept his eyes trained on Aslinn as he spoke to Laurena. “She’s an abomination.”

Laurena moved to stand in front of the former Templar, putting herself between Aslinn and Alistair. “Calm yourself, Alistair,” she moved closer to him and placed her hand on the wrist that held his sword. “Sheathe your blade.”

Aslinn eyes were narrowed as she set her glare on Alistair. “I’d not be an abomination,” She practically growled.

“Then what are you?” Alistair replied. Laurena took his sword out of his hand and gave him a stern look when his eyes finally met hers.

“I’m Miqo’te, a hunter race,” Aslinn’s tail whipped from side to side angrily. “I dunna appreciate bein called a monster.”

“I’m sorry for that,” Laurena turned around to her, handing Alistair’s sword to Leliana for safe keeping and approached Aslinn. “May I ask why you didn’t tell us to begin with that you were a…Meco?” Laurena stumbled over the foreign word.

Aslinn sighed, closed her eyes, and took a calming breath. “Miqo’te,” She opened her eyes, her face a blank mask. “That,” indicating with a jerk of her head toward Alistair, “Be why one reason I did’na tell yah.”

Laurena looked truly regretful. “He’s a former Templar. I’m sorry for his reaction.”

Aslinn raised an eyebrow then shook her head. “Dunna be worryin about it. It happens more than I would’da like,” Aslinn picked up the tattered cape and the leather helm.

“Now is a good time as any to discuss our next move then.” Laurena waited until everyone had their attention on her. “When we head to Denerim, we’ll check out the place that mercenary gave us. Next Alistair and I have a personal errand. Leliana, I want you to see if you can find some clothes and armor that could conceal Aslinn’s…” She paused trying to find the right word.

“Me ears an me tail” Aslinn offered

“And think of the possibilities you can do with it,” Zevran commented suggestively. The corners of Aslinn’s mouth twitched and it looked like she was trying to resist the urge to smile.

“Extremities,” Laurena continued as if she had not heard Zevran’s comment. “Try to get her something for her ears as well,” As Leliana’s face brighten; Laurena added, “Nothing too fancy or frilly. In fact, Wynne go with her to make sure all our money isn’t spent on shoes and dresses.”

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The spot where the camp would be set up was roughly two miles from Denerim, it was still early in the day so Laurena, Alistair, Wynne, and Leliana left to make the trip to the city, while the others had the dull task of setting up camp.

“I can’na believe that you’d be spared after you said that,” Aslinn giggled as she picked up another piece of wood for the fire. “Alistair must’ta not been very happy.”

Zevran chuckled, shifting the weight of the wood in his arms as Aslinn placed another piece on the pile. “I do wonder which made our dear Alistair sputter in rage the most.”

“Hmm, callin Laurena a deadly sex goddess, offeren to warm her bed, or fighten off unwantin suitors…out of the three it’d be the warming of the bed would’da gotten him the most, be my bet. They’d be sweet on each other.”

“Obvious even to a newcomer, no?” They walked in silence side by side for several minutes, stopping only when Aslinn would pick up another piece of wood and place it on the pile in Zevran’s arms.

“Wad’da have to have to becomin an assassin?” She asked glancing at him from the corner of her eye.

“Well,” Zevran looked very thoughtful. “The Crows would have you believe that it is an involved process.
That takes years of training, the sort that test both your resolve and your endurance. Survive that process and maybe, just maybe, you’re good enough to start to be considered one of them.”

She arched and eyebrow at his sigh. “But quite frankly the truth is all that it requires is the desire to kill people for a living. It’s surprising how well one can do in such a field.”

“I’d be supposin,” Aslinn bent down and picked up a pieces of wood, examined it then lightly placed it on the pile in Zevran’s arms. “You’d be doing quite well. On this is be having no doubt.”

“Within the Crows, I did,” Zevran smiled proudly. “It has been something that the Crows have devoted a great deal of time to perfecting. An assassin simply specializes in striking from stealth…and in maximizing that first strike to be a lethal as possible,” He shifted the pile in his arms. “Debilitating your foe, either by poison or by crippling their limbs, makes any follow-up combat you need to engage in that much simpler.”

“Sounds like it’d be useful, eh?”

“See? Getting paid for the act is beside the point. An assassin is more of a tactful choice than a lifestyle. Of course, the Crows like to pretend that their abilities are trade secrets, shrouded in shadows and wrapped in a blanket of mystery.” Zevran took pause as she stifled a giggle, shifting the wood in his arms again. “Hmm, shall we head back to camp, my fine feline friend?”

“Aye, we should’da be haven enough,” Aslinn turned back in the direction they came from and walked in silence

“This does not bother you?” Zevran said out of the blue, Aslinn gave him a confused look. “You are in the woods alone with a man you hardly know and who happens to be a dangerous assassin. You are not bothered by this?”

She snorted. “You’d be very unlikely to attack, your arms be full of firewood.”

“I can always drop the wood.”

“I’d be faster—I’d outrun you,” She countered smiling confident in her abilities to out maneuver the former Crow. “Besides,” She paused and winked at him. “I trust yah at me back… And it werena me you’d be paid to kill.”

“You have a quick wit and a silver tongue, my little kitten.”

Aslinn laughed. “Again interested in ma mouth.”


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Laurena listened to Marjolaine prattle on about Ferelden smelling like wet dogs. The mercenary had been correct about the address, the moment they walked through the door they had been attacked. Leliana looked nervous, Laurena noted, as she spoke to her ex-mentor.

“Enough, why did you send assassins after Leliana?” Laurena demanded.

“So business-like, your companion,” Marjolaine spoke to Leliana as if they were discussing what color shoes went well with their dresses.

Leliana narrowed her eyes. “You framed me, had me caught and tortured. I thought in Ferelden, I would be free of you, but it seems I am not,” Leliana’s voice softened slightly. “What happened to make you hate me so? Why do you want me dead so badly?”

“Dead? Nonsense. I know you, my Leliana, I know what you are capable of. Four, five men… you can dispatch easily. They were sent to give you cause to come to me and see? Here you are,” Marjolaine spoke sweetly but Laurena wasn’t buying her act.

Laurena crossed her arms. “I don’t believe your tale one bit.”

“You’re so transparent,” Leliana added. “What are you up to, Mariolain? Why are you in Ferelden?” Laurena heard Leliana’s voice become stern.

“In truth? You have knowledge that you can use against me. For my own safety I cannot let you be.” Laurena sighed heavily at her statement. “Did you think I did not know where you were? Did you think I would not watch my Leliana? What is she up to? I thought. The quiet life, the peasant clothes, hair ragged and messy like a boy…err…this is not her. You were planning something. I told myself.” Marjolaine rattled on. “So I watched… but no letters were sent. No messages. You barely spoke to anyone. Clever, Leliana, very clever. You almost had me fooled. Then you left the Chantry so suddenly. What conclusion should I draw? You tell me?”

“You think I left because of you? You still think I still have some plan for…revenge? You are insane! Paranoid!” Leliana sounded in total disbelieve, as Laurena felt.

The nerve of this woman, Laurena thought getting annoyed. “Not everything is about you, Marjolaine.”

“Oh ho,” Marjolaine scoffed. “Is that what you think? If I were you I would believe nothing she says.”

“Am I supposed to believe your word then?” This woman is starting to rub me the wrong way. Laurena thought

“She will use you. You look at her and you see a simple girl--a friend, trusting and warm. It is an act,” She countered.

“I am not you, Marjolaine. I left because I didn’t want to become you,” Leliana sneered.

“Oh but you are me. You cannot escape it. No one will understand you the way I do, because we are one and the same. Do you know why were a master manipulator, Leliana? It is because you enjoyed the games; you reveled in the power it gave you,” She paused a moment to let what she said sink in. “You cannot change or deny this.”

“I trust Leliana, no matter what you say,” Laurena glared are the woman.

“Thank you,” Leliana said sincerely then turned and took a step toward Marjolaine. “You will not threaten me or my friends again, Marjolaine. I want you out of my life forever.”

“She means go away,” Laurena said uncharacteristically cocky.

“Leave Ferelden. Go back to Orlais and never return. What you do is no longer my concern,” Leliana gave Marjolain a hard look.

“I see. I will go, for now, but you carry a dangerous secret of mine, Leliana. It is not over not for us.” Majolaine walked out, the group parting as she passed them.”


“Are you alright, Lel?” Laurena turned to her friend concerned.

“Yes I’ll be fine, I just…” Leliana trailed off. “She said she would but back, she could be lying… I would like some time to myself to think.”

“I understand, take your time.”

“Hey, Leliana,” Alistair said out of the blue.

“What is it Alistair?” Leliana had a solemn tone.

“Somebody gets to go shopping,” he said in a very sing song voice as he handed her their money pouch. Leliana couldn’t help but let a smile show on her face.

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“I don’t understand you,” Sten towered over Aslinn.

“Few do,” she glanced up from the leather gloves she was working on.

“Are you feline or woman?”

“A bit’ta both,” she sat the gloves down and gave him her full attention. “Me ears and me tail didn’na give that away?” She flicked her ears as emphasis.

“You can’t be a woman, women do not fight. They are priests, artisans, farmers or shopkeepers. None of them have any place in fighting,” he stared at her.

“I’d be the daughter of a merchant, aye, but at a time there be no choice but the fight,” she replied. She sighed and continued when he did nothing but look intently at her. “Be given the choice of fightin back or dyin, I’da be takin the fightin back.”

“Kill or be killed.”

“Aye, I like livin so I be fightin,” Aslinn giving a sharp nod. Sten seem satisfied with that answer and walked off. “You can be commin out of the shadows there, Zevran.”

“I do wonder how you can detect me, my little kitten, when most cannot,” Zevran had been watching the exchange from the shadows. She intrigued him. He stepped gracefully from the shadows to side on the opposite end of the log she was sitting on. She sat sideways with one leg tucked under her while the other dangled.

“I’d be not most people,” she grinned then turned back to altering the gloves.

She had turned his earlier comment back on him and Zevran was quiet amused to this fact so graced her with a laugh. “That you certain are not, with you exquisite eyes and…”

“All the better to be seein you with, mah dear,” a smirk graced her lips, her tone of voice light and playful.

“Oh I see where you going…what big ears you have,” He scooted closer to her on the log.

“All the better to be hearin you with, mah dear.”

Chuckling to himself at the game they played, Zevran continued and moved ever closer. “And what big teeth you have!”

“The better to…” Aslinn paused. “Mah teeth aren’a that big, are they?”

“Hmm, they are the perfect size for devouring tasty elfs,” he laughed when she stuck out her tongue at him.
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Laurena was furious as both she and Alistair stormed away from Goldanna’s house and towards the alley they were supposed to meet Wynne and Leliana. “The nerve of that woman, treating you that way, then turning around calling me…a-a…tart!” She fumed throwing up her arms in frustration.

“Well that was…not what I expected...to put it lightly. This is the family I’ve been wondering about my entire life? I can’t believe it,” Alistair sounded dejected and Laurena stopped her own ranting to face him, her eyes full of sympathy. “I…guess I was expecting her to accept me without question. Isn’t that what family is supposed to do? I feel like a complete idiot.”

“Alistair, look at me” Laurena said softly lifting his chin with her hand. “You don’t need her. You have others that care about you.”

“Such as? The only person who ever cared about me was Duncan…and he’s gone.”

Laurena was truly hurt, after all they had been through together how could he not know. “I care about you.”

“I…” He stammered and she began to remove her hand from his face. Without knowing why he quickly grabbed it in his own hand. “Thank you, I’m glad you came with me,” he let her hand drop back down to her side.

They waited in silence, both leaning against the building. Alistair was quiet and Laurena just figured he was thinking about Goldanna so she let him be.

“I know it might sound strange,” He looked at her rather nervously.” Considering we haven’t known each other for very long, but I’ve come to…care for you. A great deal. I think it’s because we’ve gone through so much together, I don’t know. Or maybe I’m imagining it. Maybe I’m fooling myself,” he turned his body towards her completely. “Am I? Fooling myself? Or do you think you might ever…feel the same way about me?”

She smiled having just said not five minutes ago that she did care for him. She turned her blue eyes towards him and replied. “I think I already do.” She could feel his breath on her cheek a moment before his lips wrapped around hers and Alistair’s hand gently encasing her back of her head, holding her in place.

Warmth spread through Alistair like wildfire, the very source where Laurena’s lips met his own. His mind reeled at the sensation, his body betraying his pure intentions of the kiss as she responded eagerly to him. He had to force himself to pull back from the kiss, both he and Laurena were breathing heavily and it took him a moment to compose himself. “T-That wasn’t too soon, was it?”

She pulled his head back down towards her and made their for heads touch. “No, not really. I liked it.”

Alistair chuckled, and hand his armed hand through her black tresses. “Good. I’ll take that as a good sign. Maker’s breathe, but you beautiful. I am a lucky man. Now let’s get back to…” he reluctantly pulled away from her taking a step back. “Back to what we were doing before. Lest I forget why we’re here.”

A/N
This chapter gave me and my lovely beta Janec Shannon for being my sounding board and my snicker buddy on some of these scense.Please check out her story “Stars” http:(slash slash)www(dot)fanfiction(dot)net(slash)s(slash)5655515(slash)1(slash)Stars

It’s awesome you should check it out…like now.

My spellcheck/grammer check hates Aslinn and her accent. Two bits to the first person who guesses her accent. Janec you don’t count.