438 réponses à ce sujet

[Addai]

LOL I always joke about a Regulator Alistair. But a Regulator Loghain... hmm....

[Schratty]

After partaking in the Landsmeet/Loghain discussion on the Alistair Thread, I decided it would be wise to check out your fiction. All I can say is: WOW. This is wonderfully written. You've done such an amazing job...humanizing (for lack of a better word) Loghain. So much so, in fact, that it might just alter my decisions in DA:O. I'm glad you had that dream

[Addai]

Schratty wrote...

After partaking in the Landsmeet/Loghain discussion on the Alistair Thread, I decided it would be wise to check out your fiction. All I can say is: WOW. This is wonderfully written. You've done such an amazing job...humanizing (for lack of a better word) Loghain. So much so, in fact, that it might just alter my decisions in DA:O. I'm glad you had that dream

Wow, thank you.  I'm struggling a bit with the next part so that's motivating.

[Thane19]

This is a great story so far, loving it.



I generally despise AU stories, but this one is great.

[Addai]

Thane19 wrote...

This is a great story so far, loving it.

I generally despise AU stories, but this one is great.

Thank you!  I do my best to keep it not-too-AU.   I think the story should feel familiar, though obviously with some twists.

[SRWill64]

Addai67 wrote...

Maria13 wrote...

Ah... Addai, I do like how our stories are meshing my Alistair doesn't want to be like Maric because he dislikes and disapproves of many of the things he did... and your Maric is happy because Alistair will never want to be like him... Hmmm

The sad irony being that Alistair is so much like his dad, and I think they really would have gotten along famously.  And now I'm verklemmt at work, which is never a good thing.

 The more I read the calling the more I have to agree...Alistair is the "spiiting image" of Maric...unlike Cailan. I don't remember where I read it but Alistair looks exactly like Maric ecept for his eyes, which are his mother's.

[SRWill64]

tgail73 wrote...

I can't wait to see what's next for the happy couple. In my last playthrough I spared Loghain and I turned down the volume so I didn't have to hear Alistair's heart break. I cannot stand to see Alistair unhappy, but you and some other writers have turned my opinion of Loghain around. He is now my secret crush.

You know...I understand. Though I will never betray Alistair, I really think that Loghain has lost his grip on reality and is acting totally out of character in Origins. Of course, it doesn't help that Arl Howe is right there to whisper poisons to him and feed his fears of Orlesian invasion.
This is the sad part...I started out hating Loghain, but I find the more I read about him in The Stolen Throne and other places, the more I understood him and even like him....
I won't say he's my secret crush but I will say he is a good-looking guy, even though I have heard others say is sooooo ugly.
I'm glad you had that dream, too. I really enjoy this and you are a really good author. Thank you so much for sharing.

Modifié par SRWill64, 22 octobre 2010 - 01:48 .

[Addai]

Thanks everyone for the nice comments. It is hard to have Alistair and Loghain at such odds, especially when it could have been so different. But that is drama and drama makes stories.

I've been futzing but have made progress, the good news is I should be able to get chapters 9 and 10 together this weekend.

Modifié par Addai67, 22 octobre 2010 - 03:44 .

[Addai]

SRWill64 wrote...

 The more I read the calling the more I have to agree...Alistair is the "spiiting image" of Maric...unlike Cailan. I don't remember where I read it but Alistair looks exactly like Maric ecept for his eyes, which are his mother's.

Yep he really is a chip off the old block.

I think Cailan is a lot like his mom.  She is a charge-at-em type, though The Calling says she settled down as queen.  But a shaping factor for both Theirin boys has to be growing up without a mother.  It leaves a hole that nothing can quite fill.

Modifié par Addai67, 22 octobre 2010 - 03:51 .

[alschemid]

Addai67 wrote...
 the good news is I should be able to get chapters 9 and 10 together this weekend.

So it seems I'll have a pleasant weekend! Waiting eagerly for those.

[Addai]

I'm so thrilled to present my first fanart, courtesy of the very talented Schratty!




Yay!!!  Thank you SO much Schratty.  It's a beautiful rendering.

[Sandtigress]

Aww, Ellie looks great!

[FutileSine]

Wow! How pretty! Gratz on the first piece of fanart. Can't say I'm surprised - your writing is awe-inspiring!

[KnightofPhoenix]

Addai67 wrote...

LOL! I think I've probably lost Costin and KoP for sure by now. But, there has to be some fluff. Tough road ahead, we all know that.

Only because I was too busy with midterms!

I just read what I've missed. And wow, I really like it!
I especially like the Rowan Ellie comparision because that was on my mind since the first chapter.
And the smut is brief, simple and nice, which is good lol

So yea excellent, I am really enjoying it. Keep it up!

[Addai]

KnightofPhoenix wrote...

Only because I was too busy with midterms!

I just read what I've missed. And wow, I really like it!
I especially like the Rowan Ellie comparision because that was on my mind since the first chapter.
And the smut is brief, simple and nice, which is good lol

So yea excellent, I am really enjoying it. Keep it up!

Thanks!

Other people are calling for more smut, you know.    I do prefer to just turn the lights out, unless something character wise is happening.

[Esbatty]

@KoP: Its not smut... its... a husband and wife - uhh- doing a special kind of hugging. And what she was doing with Cailan was a type of - hmm - swimming. Yes, swimming. But no smut, this is a classy story and will have no such talk.



And @Addai: yay, more chapters is good times!

[Addai]

Chapter Nine

16 Justinian, 9:25 Dragon Age.

"Loghain."

He heard and did not hear Ellie speaking at first. Even when he did, it was as though from a great distance and his face remained a mask, unmoving.

"Loghain, the Grand Cleric came to the residence. She says you will not see her."

When he finally spoke, Loghain's voice was laced with controlled bitterness. "Does Her Reverence wish to remind me about the Maker's mysterious ways?"

Ellie came closer. "She did not come to give a sermon. Well, not only that."

The teyrn did not look at his wife as she drew a chair up beside his and put a hand on his arm. It had been several days since he had seen her, and long weeks of sleepless nights where they had barely spoken three words together. It was as if their bridal winter had only been a dream and hadn't really happened. Events had demanded this complete dedication of him, but so too had his need to keep control, a control that Ellie threatened whenever she was near. Nevertheless he was not displeased that she had won the argument with his guard in the hall.

Glancing up at her, Loghain asked hoarsely, "Are you well?" He had the urge to touch her, even to hold her, but held back.

Ellie smiled and nodded, though her manner was strained. She went on in a quietly earnest tone. "Loghain, you must call the Landsmeet. The lords are already arriving, but those close by will not come until you summon them. Preparations must be made."

For a time he made no move, and no reply, but the muscles of his cheek twitched. Finally he asked, "Are they all so eager?"

"It has been six weeks." She reached out to grasp his hand, meant no doubt to comfort him.

He jerked it away. "Maric is your king! He is their king. Will you all simply give up, and the search ships not even returned?"

"They did return. You sent them away again. There has been no word, nothing. If there was going to be a ransom demand, would we not have received it already? Would your agents not have turned something up by now?" Loghain made no answer, resentful that he could not contradict anything she said, but unwilling to acknowledge its truth out loud. After a moment Ellie went on. "Everyone is waiting for you. Cailan is waiting for you. He is ready now."

"I wish that were true." Loghain hesitated, fighting, then shook his head. "I want proof. I need... something. I can't just throw him away. Not without knowing. Do you think it does the country good to forget Maric so quickly?"

"No one will ever forget, but that is part of the problem. For now all is well, as much as can be expected. If you delay too much, however, people will start to express doubts about Cailan. They will think you have doubts. And if this was a plot by our enemies, those enemies will win if Ferelden is paralyzed."

After a moment's silence, Loghain forced a grim smile. "You have been talking to Anora."

"I have been talking to a great many people." Ellie stood to go, but lingered. Her tone softened. "Come home tonight. Please. You need rest." Loghain did not acknowledge this and finally she sighed, turning. Over her shoulder she added, "The Grand Cleric is in the receiving room. Do not keep her waiting too long or she might burn the palace down as a last resort."

Afterward he was alone again in the darkening study with one lamp burning. There were piles of reports and correspondence on his desk, neat piles. Though he had circles under his eyes, Loghain was clean shaven and his clothes were tidy. His armor, one set for ceremony and one for practice, stood polished on their stands. He had kept the kingdom's business going as well as he could, but Elissa was right that the restlessness in the city and in greater Ferelden was growing. Chapels were full of smallfolk praying for Maric's return. The nobles were slowly filling Denerim and sat in their salons and taverns talking of ill winds and conspiracies. As proud and confident as Cailan had been just after his father's departure, unhappy with the fact that Maric had appointed Loghain his regent rather than him, he had been stricken by the realization that his father might actually be dead. Even on a good day Cailan was not efficient at the business of ruling, but as paralyzed as Maric's disappearance left him, the awful details of managing the crisis had been left to Loghain. He had taken them up with ruthless efficiency, even as his own fear and guilt over Maric's fate gnawed at the edges of his mind.

Six weeks prior, Loghain and Ellie, along with Cailan and Anora and much of the court, had seen Maric off at the docks. There was a great press of people lining the streets all the way to the harbor. New, shiny ships and the king going out on them, that was enough to fire the imagination of every Fereldan child.

Maric himself, though he seemed determined, would sometimes grin as though he was keeping a happy secret. At the docks, he had leaned in to whisper to Loghain, "Remember what I said about my sons." Then he clasped his friend's arm fast and declared earnestly, "Thank you, Loghain. For everything. Be happy with that new wife of yours. I am glad I can leave the kingdom in yours and Cailan's hands, but I'm also glad to leave you in hers."

The flagship was called Andraste's Flame and had been painted an appropriate red and gold, and a figure of the prophetess adorned its prow. It was not the name Maric had wanted for his ship, but the Grand Cleric insisted that the kingdom's new navy acknowledge the Maker at its head. Thus the name Queen Rowan was given to one of the faster support ships and Haakon to the other one, both of these painted blue.  At one of the planning meetings, Loghain had noted the irony that a human queen and an Avvar god would be looking out for Andraste. That had earned him a cold glare from the Grand Cleric. Together the small fleet made an attractive complement, though Loghain was not as enamored of them as Maric.

"Watch yourself, Maric," Loghain had told the king uneasily as he was preparing to board. "If there is any trouble, any at all, just turn back. The Imperium was not built in a day and neither shall our little project here."

"I would tell you not to worry, but you're an old hen like that," Maric had returned, smiling with more wistfulness than his wont. He glanced up at the ship and sighed, saying, "Isn't she a beauty?" Then he gave Loghain and Cailan one last grin before he turned to walk up the gangplank, to the cheers of onlookers and sailor alike.

The royal fleet put in at Highever a few days later without incident, made a short stay, and afterward struck oar for Kirkwall. The first reports of something amiss came from the port master of that city. He sent a message asking when His Majesty King Maric might be expected to arrive, assuming that the Fereldan fleet had been delayed by the storm that had troubled the central Waking Sea. Around the same time that message was on its way to Denerim, an Antivan cutter noticed ship wreckage on the Barrow Isles, a few uninhabited rocks in the eastern part of the Sea. Though the Denerim-bound vessel did not stop to collect any of the flotsam, the crew reported that all the wooden pieces they had seen were blue. No other ship from the Free Marches or elsewhere in Ferelden could give any report of having sighted the king's fleet.

It was likely, so the Denerim shipmaster told Loghain, that the king's fleet had turned northeast to avoid the storm, making for the large island of Brandel's Reach or the port of Chadwick in the eastern Free Marches. There the inexperienced crew might have floundered on rocks, or the storm had simply caught up to them after all. The shipmaster vouched for his ship design, but had to allow that sometimes ships sank so entirely that nothing was ever found of them. It took all of Loghain's restraint not to have the man clapped in irons. His fury turned elsewhere, however. Despite the fact that there had been a storm, Loghain suspected foul play, the work of pirates or foreign governments or both. His agents, such as they were, began turning every stone both in and outside Ferelden. Thus far what they had turned up had been like the blue-painted wreckage: Useless and inconclusive. Andraste's Flame was simply gone.

Though every day that passed without any word meant more certainly that Maric was dead, Loghain fought that idea with all his being. Once before, years earlier, the king had abruptly disappeared for weeks. It turned out that he was helping some Grey Wardens whose machinations might have gotten the king captured by Orlesian agents or killed or both. Dicey as that incident had been, Loghain had found him in time and they fought their way out of the trap the Wardens had led him into. It had to be that the same thing would happen again, that Maric would return all smiles and wondering what the fuss was about.

Late that night, after having battled through the meeting with the Grand Cleric, Loghain found himself at home and standing in the parlor doorway as though needing permission to enter. Ellie was on a settee with a book balanced on her lap, one hand ruffling the head of her mabari who sat at her knee. Loghain glanced from her to the attendant Anya. The mage caught his look and got up, mumbling, to retreat to her own room. When she was gone, the couple stared in silence at one another a few moments.

Finally Loghain spoke, defeat in his voice. "I agreed to her demands. The Landsmeet will convene in one week."

From where she sat, Ellie nodded. "It's necessary, Loghain. The country must go on."

"I am aware." Maric had always said the same thing, that he was not as important as everyone believed. They would all soon find out, Loghain thought wearily. He then changed the subject. "When will your father arrive?"

"I got a message that he and Fergus had already set out from Highever overland. Tomorrow, I should think."

"Good." Loghain stirred from his spot and began to walk past her towards his rooms when Ellie spoke up again.
"Shall I come to your chamber tonight?"

He stopped, looked down at the floor for a long moment, then over his shoulder replied, "I'm sorry. I think..."

"It's alright. I just wanted to know."

"Good night."

Sleep came no more easily to Loghain that night than had conversation. Ever since the night he had dreamt of Maric's body floating, blonde hair tangled with seaweed and his eyes open, staring, there had been little sleep for him. Loghain dreamt of him again some nights later, the king's face similarly bloated and pale, seaweed in his hair, only this time they were at the witch's hut in the Korcari Wilds. Maric emerged from the hut staring at him with a vacant smile and would not speak. That had been the end of Loghain's attempts to try to sleep a full night at home. Nor could he conscience enjoying his wife's company while Maric was perhaps in grave peril somewhere, while so many details pressed on his mind, and while he needed to remain in control of his thoughts lest he not be able to do what needed to be done. The teyrn took what sleep he could in his study at the palace. It was better for both of them, he told himself, to keep a certain distance until things had settled down. Involving Elissa in the details of what he was going through would be a burden to her, and one that was his responsibility and not hers.

On the following afternoon, Elissa sent him word that her father and brother had arrived and that she would dine with them that night at the Couslands' small estate in the city, and likely sleep there as well. Loghain was wistfully glad that she had company other than his own.

The following day Ellie came to the palace requesting a meeting with him as well as with Cailan and Anora. This was so unusual that all of them were on edge as they gathered in Loghain's study. Cailan's haggard look of weeks prior had passed, and it looked like he at least was getting some sleep, but his manner was more subdued than usual. It looked to Loghain that he had grown up a bit. Not enough, perhaps, but a bit.

"Eamon let you out of his sight, did he?" he asked, not concealing his sarcasm. The arl of Redcliffe had shown up in Denerim before half the country even knew that Maric was missing. After that the silver-haired arl had been haunting the palace more and more frequently. He was always pulling Cailan aside, arm around his shoulders, and inviting him and other nobles to his pretentious estate in the market district.

Cailan waved a hand. "Uncle is just concerned, that's all. He is trying to help."

"I'm sure he is." It was more likely that he was helping himself, Loghain thought. He had gotten along well enough with Rowan's younger brothers, but there was never any great affection. Teagan was an amiable and a private man but also an inconsequential one, ducking any sort of responsibility, while the middle brother Eamon was too much passive ambition. He had always presumed much because of his relationship to the queen, considering himself some sort of mentor to Maric as though he had inherited Arl Rendorn's mantle. This, when Eamon had barely even known the noble father who had died in the rebellion while he and Teagan were off being raised by cousins in the north. The elder Guerrin son had joined the rebellion himself eventually, but only late in the day when the Orlesians were already on their heels.

Ellie entered, cutting off any further chatter. She greeted them brusquely and barely looked at Loghain, her manner all business. "Thank you for coming. I wish to bring something to your attention. Some of the nobility here for the Landsmeet have approached me, seeking my support for a bid to put my father on the throne."

"What?" Cailan and Anora cried out simultaneously. Loghain was silent, arms crossed and head low, studying his wife intently. If there were a time for Cousland national ambitions to show themselves, this would be it.

Ellie nodded soberly and went on, "They approached me because Father is resistant to the idea and they wanted me to persuade him." There was a tense moment before she went on. "I am not going to do that, of course."

Cailan relaxed visibly, but Anora was still sitting bolt upright in her chair. Archly she demanded, "I want to know who these people are. I should talk to them. Reason with them."

After a long pause, Elissa replied, "I think I shall decline to reveal that." Before Anora could argue, she lifted a hand. "I gave them my confidence, but mostly I decline because I just don't think your involvement is necessary. I am certain I can convince them, if Father himself cannot, to give up the idea. I simply wanted you all to be prepared that there could be a challenge to Cailan's bid at the Landsmeet."

"Why are they doing this?" Cailan sounded confused, and hurt.

Ellie turned to him, expression softening. "People are frightened, Cailan. To many, your father was Ferelden. You know yourself that he was no ordinary king. Even those who should know better carried a mystical faith in him and his reign, whereas you are young and untried." She hesitated, glancing at Loghain, and the teyrn gave a small nod for her to go ahead. His wife was handling matters ably, more ably than he had imagined she could, and Loghain saw no need to intervene. Turning back to the prince, Ellie continued, "My father proved himself in the rebellion and they have known him all their lives. As I told you, I don't think they are serious about this bid. I can convince them, you'll see."

Cailan's confusion was turning to anger. "For their sakes, you had better."

"Calm yourself," Anora interjected, recovering her own composure at last. "This does mean that you ought to consider my suggestion again, Cailan. I should stand with you on the Landsmeet floor."

It was obvious from the prince's expression that this had been a point of argument. Before Cailan could respond, Ellie spoke up mildly. "It is something to consider. People like their queens, it is simply a matter of fact." There was an uncomfortable pause. Loghain could see that everyone was turning over the irony of Elissa Cousland-Mac Tir making that statement. There being not much more to discuss, the meeting broke with the understanding that Elissa would handle this matter herself. She and Loghain spoke briefly, in quiet tones, over their plans for the following few days. As Ellie was leaving, he made to lean in to kiss her cheek, but she had already turned and he let it go.

Before the ordeal of the Landsmeet, there was a trial that Loghain dreaded much more fervently. The Grand Cleric had insisted that a requiem chant be said for Maric and his crew, and that Cailan and Loghain attend. "The people need to be given permission to mourn," she declared. Loghain had been forced to admit to the wisdom of the statement. The country had already been mourning, but it was a fretful and uncertain grief. Conspiracy theories abounded. Before Fereldans could welcome a new king, they would need to see a public demonstration that those closest to Maric had resigned hope of his return and given him their farewell. The very idea made Loghain sick to his stomach.

He had the same twisting nausea, and a dim sense of unreality, as he walked with Elissa through the streets lined with people. All along their path were grim faces, weeping faces, confused children's faces. People reached out towards Cailan, pressing notes and flowers towards him and calling for the Maker to save the prince. The royal guard had a time to keep them at bay. Cailan's face was white, but he occasionally lifted his hand to acknowledge the well-wishers as the entourage passed. An elderly woman, bent over and frail, slipped past a guard and caught Loghain's gauntleted arm. Soldiers moved to intercede but the teyrn waved them back. He had to lean in to hear the woman speaking. "The Orlesians. They took our shop, gave it to someone else," she rasped. "Said we was disloyal. My husband had to go to the mines. Maker bless the king, he saved us. He saved all of us. The Maker bless him. Bless you. Bless you." Her words dissolved into a fit of weeping, and Loghain let her go, continuing on with his eyes trained forward.

Before they reached the Denerim cathedral, Ellie was weeping quietly as well, though once inside the candlelit sanctuary, she wiped her tears and actually spoke the chants. Loghain could only stand, watching the flames resentfully. It was all impossible and he could not make sense of any of it. They had lost countless friends in the rebellion. Rowan had seemed indomitable and yet she had succumbed to a strange illness no one could cure. Loghain knew that death should have claimed all of them many times over, but his mind still rejected the thought that Maric was dead. Fereldans don't die at sea, he thought, and a moment later cursed himself for being absurd. Yet it was no more absurd than the idea that Maric was never going to return.

They walked home through a similar press of people, now standing in the dim light of the few streetlamps. When the royal entourage reached the palace grounds, Elissa paused at the crossroad that led off to their residence, waiting to see if Loghain would accompany her home. He mumbled that he had some things to do, and she let him go without a word. In his palace chambers, Cauthrien helped Loghain out of his armor. She wanted to clean it then and there but he dismissed her, going around to his desk and taking up the ledgers and correspondence that had been laid out for him just that day. An hour or two passed as he sat trying to shuffle papers, the palace growing more still with night drawing on. He was just turning on the oil lamp at his desk when he heard Ellie at the door, talking with his guard. She came in a moment later, out of breath. They regarded each other silently a moment, Loghain in surprise and Elissa seeming uncertain what to say.

Finally she blurted, "I don't think you should be alone tonight." She paused, then added, "And I don't want to be, either." Her tone was strident, challenging him to contradict her.

Loghain stood, coming around the desk to face her. "Would you like to sit?"

Ellie appeared surprised, obviously having expected an argument. Recovering, she asked, "Shall I have a dinner brought up for us? I'm sure you haven't eaten anything."

"As you wish."

Dinner was a vegetable soup and bread, neither of them having appetite for anything more robust. They ate in relative silence, occasionally making small talk about events in the city. When they finished, Ellie went to call the steward to clear the dishes. Loghain poured them each a glass of wine and took his to the window. The shutters were open, letting in a cool early summer breeze that smelled of the city waste and of rain. The palace sat on a high hill overlooking the city that spilled in haphazard fashion down to the river. Lanterns speckled the slope. Loghain could even see a few ship's lanterns bobbing along the river, out at the mouth of the bay, the lamp of the Hafter Point lighthouse.

Elissa came up behind him and followed his gaze towards the lighthouse. After a moment she spoke softly. "I can't shake the feeling that he knew he wasn't coming back."

Loghain grimaced. He had had the same thought, and if he was honest with himself, he had felt it even before Maric departed. "I never should have let him go."

"It's not your fault, you couldn't have known..."

"I could have and I should have." Loghain felt Ellie's hand on his back and he continued, the words forcing themselves finally to the surface. "Several times in the war I thought we had lost him, but he always came back. Always. He joked about his luck, but it came to seem more than a joke. I never believed it really, but still I half expect him to walk through that door right now and mock me for being a melancholy fool. Every time I go into his study to find something, it is almost as though I see him sitting in his chair."

"You knew him a long time. The two of you, it was like you were brothers. The way you are with him... were... it reminds me of Fergus and me."

He turned, tone vehement. "I am going to find out what happened to him. I swear it. Someday I will find out the truth."

"I believe you will. You are that sort of man." Loghain regarded her, surprised by the confidence in her voice. After a moment he reached up and touched her cheek. Ellie's eyes were red-rimmed and looked sleepy, and the skin of her cheek was hot where she had been weeping earlier. He was surprised to see how pained she was. It had not been evident to him that she was grieving, too. As he stroked her cheek, Ellie caught his hand and held it there. Whispering, she said, "I miss you."

He nodded, throat catching. It was not only Maric's disappearance that was causing her grief. Loghain hadn't wanted to admit it, but deep down he knew. Celia had once said the same thing, and likely for the same reasons. It had seemed so important for him to keep his distance, but he was finding it difficult to recall why. With Celia, he had kept meaning to try to put things right someday, but then never got a chance. When the message came that she had died of the sweating sickness, it had been six months since they had seen each other. It was over so quickly that her death messenger had caught up to her sickness messenger on the road to Denerim.

Caressing Ellie's cheek, Loghain realized that he had already begun to take her for granted, but that he could someday lose her, too, just as with Rowan, with Celia, and now with Maric. Though he was still incredulous that someone actually felt his absence, the thought that Elissa might leave him in some fashion seemed terribly chilling. Leaning down, Loghain kissed her. She tensed with surprise, but after a moment embraced him and returned the kiss.

He was still kissing her as he pulled her towards a settee, sat and lifted her astride him. Only after he had already freed himself and had started to slide the linen shift up her legs did Loghain stop, suddenly ashamed that after weeks of barely speaking to her that he was acting like a randy youth. "You don't have to do this," he whispered hoarsely. "I shouldn't have."

Ellie had paused as well, but after hearing him, she leaned forward and pressed her lips to his once more. "Talk later," she commanded between kisses, reaching to complete the skirt lifting herself. "Do this now."

Loghain needed no more encouragement than that, heaving a sigh as she slid herself onto him. Ellie leaned forward, turning her mouth towards his ear, and they held each other while they bucked gently, letting their closeness do most of the work. She came first, sliding her hips forward against him to gain friction. Afterward it was only a few more movements until Loghain's wetness spread between them and he grew slack once more. They remained locked together, Ellie's face pressed into his neck.

"I have missed you, too, Elissa," Loghain spoke into her ear. Holding her in his arms, her warmth and weight and fragrance becoming familiar to him again, this was plain to him. He embraced her tightly, letting his own head rest, the weariness in him still evident but some of its bitterness relieved by his wife's closeness.

After a time she climbed off him and they adjusted their clothes, Ellie taking a seat next to him. She patted her lap, regarding him expectantly. Loghain smiled skeptically, but eventually he complied, stretching out on the settee and resting his head on her lap. When she began undoing the wind braids at his temple, he understood why she wanted him prone. Apparently free access to his hair was something important, as Elissa would often undo them when they lay close. Loghain did not bother to try to understand.

He relaxed under her fingers' movement, and after a few moments said quietly, "I hope he's with Rowan. I hope they're together again now." It was a thought that used to bother him, that wherever Rowan was- at the Maker's side or elsewhere she may be- that she was looking for Maric and not for him. Now he hoped that that was exactly what had happened.

Ellie's fingers paused in their work. "Then they are both waiting for you now. You will see them again, I believe that."

It was not something he had ever been able to much conjure for himself, but the fact that Ellie held a certain piety touched him. "It's a good thought." Cautiously Loghain began to wonder when he might think about he and Ellie at their end, whenever that came. They often said that lovers met at the Maker's side in death. It was not a thought he was ready to let settle, however, and after another long silence, he changed the subect. "We have much to do to prepare for the Landsmeet."

"I'm glad to hear you say 'we.'"

"Ah. This is the talking part, yes?" Loghain smiled a little, then paused and sobered. "I have been trying to get through, Ellie. Just trying to make it through all this. I do know how much you have been working on my behalf. I am sorry you have been left alone a great deal."

"What I wonder is if you realize that you are not alone."

He hesitated. "Yes, I see that."

"Good. Now start acting like it." She had succeeded at loosing one braid and turned to the other.

"It is difficult for me, Ellie. I have been on my own for so long, and Celia never took an interest in civil affairs. Even now I am not so sure I want to bring you into all of this."

"I am not only talking about civil affairs."

After a pause Loghain caught her hand and turned his head to look up at her. It was hard to admit his lack, and he struggled to get the words out. "I know. I should not take you for granted as I have. I will try to do better."

She stopped, smiling and obviously moved. Leaning down, she brushed her lips over his temple and said softly, "Thank you for that." They regarded each other a few moments before Loghain released her hand and turned back, submitting once again to disassembly.

"I'll just look forward to having this Landsmeet behind us," he said, turning the subject again. "If you didn't realize it before, you'll soon see that a kennel of mabari would make more progress than those self-important bloats. But it is our way. The Orlesians think us mad for it."

"It is not all your responsibility now. This is Cailan and Anora's time."

"So it is," Loghain replied. "For better or worse." They would soon find out, all of them, which the new era would bring. He and Ellie would be the first to see which way the new wind was blowing.


End chapter nine.

Modifié par Addai67, 23 octobre 2010 - 09:37 .

[Sandtigress]

Sooo....are you of the thought that Maric went to join Fiona maybe, and left Cailan in charge because he knew the Blight was coming, per Flemeth's words?

[Addai]

Sandtigress wrote...

Sooo....are you of the thought that Maric went to join Fiona maybe, and left Cailan in charge because he knew the Blight was coming, per Flemeth's words?

I deliberately left it open because I think it is a possibility.  It would mean his whole crew would have to vanish, though, so I think it more likely that he died.  Gaider did say "sometimes people just die."

[Sandtigress]

Addai67 wrote...

Sandtigress wrote...

Sooo....are you of the thought that Maric went to join Fiona maybe, and left Cailan in charge because he knew the Blight was coming, per Flemeth's words?

I deliberately left it open because I think it is a possibility.  It would mean his whole crew would have to vanish, though, so I think it more likely that he died.  Gaider did say "sometimes people just die."

He also said one day we'd find out what happened to Fiona and Maric!  Which, of course, could be "they died".  Gaider would do something mean and evil like that....