I Went Looking For Trouble (And, Boy, She Found Me)

The door slammed open and the tiny elf Warden walked in. Well, more like shambled in, as she shuffled her feet across the tiles of the floor towards the dining table. She had the hood of her worn blue tunic pulled up, but Lucanis could still make out that her eyes were barely open yet, one more closed than the other. Her blue-green hair was a tangled mess from sleep. From the corner of his eye, Lucanis saw Spite also watch her dragging gait as she made her way to the small bowl of olives that had been left out from dinner the night prior. In unison, they cocked their heads to the left as she picked up a handful, stuffed them into her mouth, and then looked toward the two of them. She made two head nods in their direction. Was she being polite, even in her semi-sleep state, or could she actually see Spite? he wondered as he moved his eyes and head just enough to look over at the demon. Spite, for his part, just stood there with his mouth hanging slightly open as if he was also wondering the same thing. She then grabbed another handful of olives while still working on the ones squirreled away in her cheeks. She was still looking right at them both.

Feeling oddly flushed and like a halla caught in a sudden flash of veilfire, all Lucanis could muster up was a small wave back at her. He could feel Spite’s glare burning questions into him, but he just kept watching her as she made her way back out the door. He just stood there for a moment, unsure what he just witnessed or how Thedas was going to be saved by a Grey Warden who’s idea of breakfast was a handful of stuff olives that had been sitting out all night. Was this how these three were living before he got there? Didn’t Grey Wardens have incredibly high constitutions and need to eat their body weight to keep going (or was that just myth being passed down as truth)? More importantly, how was this the woman who broke him out of the Ossuary after a year of his own unsuccessful attempts?

Mierda. He was in so much more trouble than just the contract Caterina made for him here. Killing two ancient, blighted elven mages, GODS, didn’t hold a candle to the chaos that tiny elven Grey Warden mage was creating inside him.