141 réponses à ce sujet

[Sandtigress]

This is a little project that my muse would not stop bugging me about until I started.  For those of you reading my other story, I have not stopped on it, and I am done with my thesis, but it’s taking a little bit for my muse to start pontificating on that story again!  So in the meantime, here are some short bits that hopefully will get her going again!

15 Drakonis
20 Drakonis
17 Cloudreach
1 Bloomingtide - A companion short story, from Alistair's perspective, is now on ff.net!  Shared Grief
7 Bloomingtide
10 Justinian
14 Solace
22 Solace
24 August
Date unknown
10 Firstfall
15 Firstfall
15 Haring
1 Winterfall
15 Winterfall
16 Winterfall
29 Winterfall
15 Drakonis
Epilogue: 3 Solace

Modifié par Sandtigress, 23 août 2010 - 01:53 .

[Sandtigress]

15 Drakonis

Dearest Fergus,

I had intended to sneak this into your pack along with the letters from Oriana and Oren, but then the mabari, and the rats in the larder, and well, you know.  It’s always something.  I’ll send it out with Father in the morning instead, and you’ll have something to read while you’re in Ostagar.

I really will miss you, big brother.  I miss you already, to be truthful, and you away for mere hours.  Do not stay away as long as you did in Antiva, courting Oriana.  And especially don’t bring back another wife!  The one you already have will kill you, never mind her protests about women and violence.  There’s always poison in your afternoon tea.

 Don’t worry, I will be sure to look after them, especially Oren.  Oriana misses you already as well, though Oren seems more occupied with his upcoming sword lessons.  Yes, he managed to convince me already.  Your son already shares a good measure of your irresistible “charm”.  He will be a dangerous man when he grows up!  I will enjoy watching the noblewomen fight over him.

Kill the darkspawn and hurry home to us.  I do not feel right, holding these lands in Father’s stead, or in yours.  I know this will be my lot in life in the years to come, as the wife of some noble or another (Mother has begun to talk of Bann Teagan of Rainefaire, what do you know of him?) but I hope not for some years to come.  I would rather have you and Father here instead.

I suppose I must be off to bed.  My duties await me in the morning, and Couslands always do their duty.  Yes, I can imagine you repeating the mantra with me, but it is true enough.  Tomorrow will be Ser Gilmore’s trial for the Grey Warden.  I know that you think I would be a good recruit, but I am glad that he is not here for me, as is Father, I know.  The idea of fighting for a living…it does not appeal, Fergus, even though you say I have talent.  I would rather take up my sword and shield when needed than live that life day in and day out.

But I must go.  I hope that this letter finds you well, and not freezing in the rain.  Too much.  Take care, brother, and bring yourself home in one piece.

Your loving sister,
Amelia

[Sarah1281]

I wonder if he ever gets this letter...the irony is rather tragic.

I suppose that, if she's the Warden, she won't have to fight for a living forever, just during the Blight and, if you're following canon, a few months during Awakening. While Teagan is, of course, incredibly charming and actually knows 'that nobility has another meaning' as Nathaniel would put it, you'd think being a Bann's wife (what are the spouse's of Banns called, anyway? There's Teyrn/Teyrna and Arl/Arlessa but Alfstanna is a Bann the same as Teagan. Does the spouse of a Bann even have a title?) would be a pretty big step down from Teyrn's daughter, especially since the other Teyrn's daughter ended up Queen. Still, Bann' are more common than Arls and maybe all of the Arls were a) female, married, or c) related to them.

I can't wait to see what other letters she writes when.

Also, I love that you're not calling her Elissa given my intense and quite possibly irrational hatred for that name.

[SurelyForth]

Sarah1281 wrote...

Also, I love that you're not calling her Elissa given my intense and quite possibly irrational hatred for that name.

I'm glad I'm not the only one. I will copy/paste into a Word doc and replace Elissa with Elle or anything else if the PC is named that.

Also, the first letter is great, Sandi! Of course, the perv in me wants to make a comment about how well-behaved Amelia is. Usually the only sword training my HNFs get up to is with Dairren...

[Sandtigress]

Sarah1281 wrote...

I wonder if he ever gets this letter...the irony is rather tragic.

I suppose that, if she's the Warden, she won't have to fight for a living forever, just during the Blight and, if you're following canon, a few months during Awakening. While Teagan is, of course, incredibly charming and actually knows 'that nobility has another meaning' as Nathaniel would put it, you'd think being a Bann's wife (what are the spouse's of Banns called, anyway? There's Teyrn/Teyrna and Arl/Arlessa but Alfstanna is a Bann the same as Teagan. Does the spouse of a Bann even have a title?) would be a pretty big step down from Teyrn's daughter, especially since the other Teyrn's daughter ended up Queen. Still, Bann' are more common than Arls and maybe all of the Arls were a) female, married, or c) related to them.

I can't wait to see what other letters she writes when.

Also, I love that you're not calling her Elissa given my intense and quite possibly irrational hatred for that name.

Well, she was going to send the letter out with Bryce when he left in the morning, so it certainly doesn't leave that way.  As to getting it another way, you'll have to wait and see, I guess.

I think marrying Teagan would be a bit of a step down, but the way I see it the Couslands have spoiled their children a little - Fergus obviously got to marry for love, and I would think they'd let Amelia do the same.  So at this point Eleanor is more hoping that Teagan will charm her and she'll fall for him and be happy rather than being worried so much about titles and rank at this point.  Teagan is also related to a powerful Arl and is the king's uncle, so even if his rank is not very high, he is still part of a very influential family.

And yeah, I never leave my characters with the default names.  I like them original.  It also amused me during her playthrough that "Amelia" means "Effort" so she wore that armor for a pretty good long time! 

Thanks for reading!  These are short, so hopefully they don't take me that long to do!

[Sandtigress]

SurelyForth wrote...

Sarah1281 wrote...

Also, I love that you're not calling her Elissa given my intense and quite possibly irrational hatred for that name.

I'm glad I'm not the only one. I will copy/paste into a Word doc and replace Elissa with Elle or anything else if the PC is named that.

Also, the first letter is great, Sandi! Of course, the perv in me wants to make a comment about how well-behaved Amelia is. Usually the only sword training my HNFs get up to is with Dairren...

lol Yeah, Amelia is my dutiful daughter Cousland, the proper lady and all that.  I started a second HNF named Reyna who took full advantage of the 'No less than three, please" response to Fergus, propositioned Duncan, and lured Dairren to her bed that night but her playthrough is getting moved to my PC!

[jenncgf]

good first letter!



See, I must be the odd one. I happen to really *like* the name Elissa. It sounds like something I might have made up on my own. Ah, well, to each his or her own.

[jenncgf]

Ack, double post.  Soz.  

Modifié par jenncgf, 27 juillet 2010 - 09:32 .

[Sandtigress]

jenncgf wrote...

good first letter!

See, I must be the odd one. I happen to really *like* the name Elissa. It sounds like something I might have made up on my own. Ah, well, to each his or her own.

Thanks!  I don't dislike Elissa, I just have a harder time getting into a character with a default name, excepting the ocassional random generated name.  I feel like I can get more into the character's perspective when she's entirely my own.  lol I probably don't feel the same about last names because, let's face it, I suck at making up last names and it's way more trouble than it's worth!

[Sarah1281]

SurelyForth wrote...

Sarah1281 wrote...

Also, I love that you're not calling her Elissa given my intense and quite possibly irrational hatred for that name.

I'm glad I'm not the only one. I will copy/paste into a Word doc and replace Elissa with Elle or anything else if the PC is named that.

...I do the exact same thing and then whenever someone suddenly calls her 'Ellie' or something, I initially go 'how the hell do they get Ellie from Victoria (or whatever I changed her name to)?' and then I realize that her name is actually supposed to be Elissa and then promptly change all the 'Ellie' nicknames to Victoria as well.

Sandtigress wrote...
And yeah, I never leave my characters with the default names.  I like them original.  It also amused me during her playthrough that "Amelia" means "Effort" so she wore that armor for a pretty good long time!

If you go with an original name like, say, Kara then it's a lot easier to keep that story straight than all of the default ones. I can like stories that have Elissa Cousland in them but being expected to remember what she or Alistair does in one story versus another would be a lot easier if, say, her name was Mary for once. And the lack of originality bothers me, as well. If they're never going to say the first name then there's no reason to stick with the default  unless you're really not sure how to come up with an elf/dwarf name on your own. Still, that is what random name generators are for.

Sandtigress wrote...
Thanks!  I don't dislike Elissa, I just have a harder time getting into a character with a default name, excepting the ocassional random generated name.  I feel like I can get more into the character's perspective when she's entirely my own.  lol I probably don't feel the same about last names because, let's face it, I suck at making up last names and it's way more trouble than it's worth!

I hate Elissa SO MUCH it's not even funny. Some of the other default names I'm fine with, though, even if I won't use them. Actually, I like Sereda so much that I named my Brosca that so I could avoid having a default name. The last names I have no promblem with (even if I don't like how one of them sounds) because every character you have from that origin will have been born into the same family/clan and so that's already predetermined.

And it will be interesting to see how he ever does manage to get the letter. I don't think he actually went back to Highever before the epilogue since Howe's men are set up there but he might have been able to sneak in since he's presumed dead.

Modifié par Sarah1281, 27 juillet 2010 - 09:56 .

[Sandtigress]

20 Drakonis


Oh Maker, Fergus, I don't even know where to begin. I have spent the past days trying to find the words to tell you, and I cannot. Maybe writing them down will be easier. I don't even know where the paper and ink came from, perhaps Duncan found them for me.

Fergus, everything we have known is gone. Our home, everyone at the castle, our parents. Oriana and Oren…Fergus, I don't know how to say how sorry I am, that I let it happen, that I couldn't stop it, that I couldn't stop Howe. It was him, all along. He betrayed Father, us - it was only because of the Grey Warden that I am even alive.

And there is that. To save me, Father swore me to the Wardens. Conscripted, me, your little sister. It is a nightmare that I cannot wake from. But yours, yours will be so much worse and I dread having to tell you everything that has occurred. I need you, big brother, and yet I am afraid that you will need me far more, and I won't be strong enough for both of us.

We have several weeks yet before we reach Ostagar. Maybe by then I will know how to say these things to you. About your family and about our parents. You will be so proud of them though, Fergus, our parents. They died together, fighting to the end. Most days I wish Duncan had let me stay with them, but then who would tell you? And then you would truly be alone, and that would not be fair either. As if any of this were fair.

Enough. If I write more, you will not be able to read this beyond the tear stains. I doubt that you will ever see this letter anyways. Duncan is taking me to Ostagar – I hope to see you soon, brother. I need to see you soon.

I miss you,

Amelia

[SurelyForth]

*cries* I love the Couslands so much and imagining any of my HNs coming to terms with what has happened (or even just thinking about the scope of their personal loss) kills me dead. Very, very good.

[Sandtigress]

SurelyForth wrote...

*cries* I love the Couslands so much and imagining any of my HNs coming to terms with what has happened (or even just thinking about the scope of their personal loss) kills me dead. Very, very good.

And this is kind of just her first pass.    Her attempt to put it all down so that maybe she could just thrust this in Fergus' hands when she sees him and not have to say it out loud.  And then she realizes that she can't even do that, and just finishes the letter and hopes she finds the words when she actually sees him.

And more than that, she's worried about Fergus because she just lost her parents and sister-in-law and nephew but he lost his wife and son, and she knows that's got to be so much worse than what she's going through but she's pretty shattered too and it would be easier if Fergus had some other source of support but he doesn't.  She's not only a dutiful daughter but also sister, and she really loves her brother, so she's trying to find the way to be there for him when she needs someone to be there for her as well.

I always felt really terrible for the Couslands on that trip to Ostagar.

[Sandtigress]

17 Cloudreach


Today is the day of my Joining.  After this, I will be forever a Grey Warden.  They will not tell me what this ritual entails, but the junior Warden who is guiding us, Alistair, avoids the subject as though it were something bad. It is dangerous, that is all they will tell me, and it must be done immediately.  I want to find you, but they tell me this must be done now. I have asked for enough time to write you this letter, and Alistair says that he will make sure it reaches you in case I cannot tell you myself, for whatever reason.

Howe must pay for his treachery, brother.  I swear it to you, Arl Rendon Howe ordered the attack on Highever, and it was he who destroyed all that we held dear.  Howe is responsible for Mother and Father, and for Oren and Oriana.  I wish that I could have told you all this in person, I should have told you in person, but perhaps it is fate that I do not.  And perhaps it is best that you not know what I have seen.  That it happened at all is probably bad enough.  Duncan, the Grey Warden who was at Highever, will confirm all this.  The king holds him in high regard, and Duncan is a trustworthy man.

King Cailan himself has pledged his support to our cause.  He is not as bad as the stories Mother passed on from Queen Anora made him out to be.  Go to him when the battles at Ostagar are finished, and he will help you reclaim what Howe took from us.  Our land, at least, if not our loved ones.

With this letter, I will leave you the family sword and shield. Mother made me take them – it is all that we have left of our legacy now. They should be yours anyways. They are a final gift from your family. Please take care of Fenhar for me – I know that he is impossible to manage without me, but he has been a good hound and deserves to go on even if I do not.  I have tried to explain to him that he should look after you, but I do not know if he understands.  Try to make him see.

Fergus, I hate to take from you the last family that you have left, but I must go through with this.  Father made me promise, and how could I go against his dying wishes?  This is my duty now, and a Cousland always does her duty.  Maybe my duty should have been to find you, regardless of what anyone else said.  I don't know, everything seems wrong now.  If I were to wake up in my own bed tomorrow and find it all a dream, it would make more sense than for this to be reality.

But they are calling for me now – we are to enter the Wilds as part of this ritual.  By Andraste's grace, maybe I will find you there, and this letter will be rendered moot.  I will pray for it, and that we see each other soon. If not…Fergus, I love you, big brother.  You are so strong, and I have always been very proud of you.

No matter what happens, I am and will always be your loving sister.

Amelia

Modifié par Sandtigress, 29 juillet 2010 - 02:26 .

[Sarah1281]

I'm not sure why she's apologizing for abandoning him by becoming a GW and trying to give away her dog and family heirlooms. Is she taking Duncan's 'our policy is to leave our former lives behind' far too seriously or does she realize she could die?

Also, it sure is dedicated of her to decide to go through with it because Duncan blackmailed Bryce into promising she would.

Modifié par Sarah1281, 29 juillet 2010 - 08:30 .

[mousestalker]

I read it as she's worried she may not survive the actual Joining.



Very heart wrenching story, well written. Please continue.

[Sandtigress]

mousestalker is right - she's heard that the Joining is dangerous and since she and Fergus are the last, she sees it as her responsibility to make sure that he knows what happened, in case for some reason she does not survive. So that's a letter that was meant to be given only in the case that she died at some point before seeing Fergus. Hence the certainty in the letter that she didn't make it - it was the only reason Fergus should ever have seen the letter at all.



And yes, it is very dedicated of her to go through with it, but again, she's the dutiful Cousland daughter - Bryce asked her to promise it and so she's going to go through with it, though she hates the idea of being a Warden. She won't go against her father's dying wishes, no matter what. Amelia is a character made of up honor and high-handed nobility, in a sense. Once she's given her word, she will go to the ends of the earth to fulfill her promise.



And mousestalker, thanks!

[Sandtigress]

1 Bloomingtide


Dearest Fergus,

It's Summerday, I think. We have not seen civilization in some time, but I am fairly certain I have the day right. We should be in Highever, getting ready to take Oren to the festival in town, with you bemoaning how much of your money Oriana is going to spend on trinkets, and Mother and Father making eyes at each other. Instead, I am a Grey Warden, wandering the Wilds, slaying darkspawn, and you…I wish I knew where you were.

We are just outside a small town called Lothering, at the edge of the Wilds. By "we" I mean me and Fenhar, another Grey Warden named Alistair, and an apostate witch called Morrigan. It's true, me, your ever pious sister, traveling with an apostate. The Blight has upended all our lives, it seems.

We escaped the slaughter at Ostagar, only barely, thanks to Morrigan's mother. She says she is Flemeth, yes the Flemeth, the one in our own family history. I do not know what to think of her, or what to think of her rescue. I am no one important, not in the grand scheme of things, and I do not even want to be a Grey Warden.  Yet I cannot help but be grateful to her anyways, even though I know that her help must come with a price. It means I can still find you. Is it silly of me to think that you might have survived the darkspawn attack, when the king and all the Wardens and even Duncan did not? I know it is unlikely and yet I cannot keep my heart from hoping.

Do you want to hear about my companions? They are the farthest thing from what you would expect, I think. Morrigan is a "Witch of the Wilds" who can change her form for that of animals. And she is…well, there are many impolite words I could call her that would scandalize Mother were she to hear, even though I suspect she has used many of them herself. Suffice it to say I do not think we will get along, for reasons other than that she is an apostate, as if that were not reason enough. But we are two Wardens against a Blight – I do not think we can turn her help away, at least not yet, though Alistair has expressed a dislike for her as well.

You will make fun of me for my second companion, my fellow Grey Warden, I am sure. I can hear you teasing me about him already, me traveling with a man, and a handsome one at that. I had my doubts at first, I will admit, about the suitability and about his intentions. But he is very kind, if a little irreverent, and as much a gentleman as even Father could ask for, as well as a skilled warrior.

I told him, last night, about Highever, about our parents, about you. I think it is the first time I have said it all out loud. I suppose I had no choice in the matter, he caught me crying when I was supposed to be keeping watch. Shameful, I know. I am afraid I have forgotten myself in my own grief for our parents, and for you, and treated him very badly these past few weeks. And yet, he was very compassionate. Sweet even. He has been through much as well, losing the Wardens and his mentor. We are much the same in that respect. But don't get any ideas. I am still a Cousland, even if I am a Grey Warden now. I may even be the last Cousland, and that means responsibilities, but dear Maker, I don't want to think about that. You have to be alive. And I will find you.

I have considered leaving this letter with someone in Lothering, on the chance that you might pass through, but I see the signs around us. The darkspawn are approaching and this town is doomed. I cannot bear the thought of losing even this to their filth, as I have lost you. Perhaps I will find another place, somewhere safer, where I could be sure this letter would reach you. Our direction will be decided once we have entered the town and heard what news we might. I hope against hope that you might be there, waiting for me.

I will not tell you of our mad plan, not yet. I do not know whether you would disapprove, or whether you would cheer me on. You have always supported me, and believed that I could do anything I put my mind to. I hope you are right, big brother. For Ferelden's sake.

But my watch is over, and I must at least try to sleep.

I remain ever yours,

Amelia

[MelRedux]

"he caught me crying when I was supposed to be keeping watch"

I wish I was a fly on the wall for that scene...

[Sandtigress]

I actually wrote that as a short story that I never finished (my first DA one, come to think of it)...and then I started the letters and wanted to incorporate it somehow. Maybe I'll finish the story someday!

[mousestalker]

Oooh, please do!

[Norskatt]

Aww.. I can't wait for the next letter!

[Sandtigress]

Norskatt wrote...

Aww.. I can't wait for the next letter!

Aww, thanks!

And we'll see about the short story.  I got stuck on dialogue, like I always do.    Maybe the ending will come to me.

[Yankee23]

Love it! And I would like to see that short story as well!

[Sandtigress]

Thanks! I'm looking at the short story again now... >.>