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The Beloved of Andraste Ch. 8: Andraste (END)

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"Soooo... we left the boy at that tower and are now...?  What?  What are we doing?" Rynar questioned as the four of them shared a drink at the tavern in Redcliffe.  Caylus had thought it would be a good bet to travel to the village as it was situated on a lake and Arella remembered her hometown as a fishing village.  So far, nothing.

"We're trying to find Arella's hometown, elf.  Stop complaining, you volunteered to come with us." Caylus grunted.

"That I did, shem.  But you, on the other hand, forced your way in."  Sparks flew between them for a moment until Arella put a hand up.

"Enough, you two." she said, standing, "We should probably get some rest, we'll be travelling again in the morning.  Caylus, you said a place called 'Denerim' next?"

"Yeah, though it should take us a few weeks to get there." he confirmed.  They spent the night in the inn down the way and in the morning left as fast as they could.  Mostly to quiet Rynar's complaining about 'shemlen towns' and all that.  Back on the trail, the group was more at ease with each other.  Karasaad even spoke the occasional word to participate in the other's conversations.  They all missed Anders' constant chattering, as annoying as it was, and Arella wished she'd done something more for the boy.  It was completely unjust for Templars, for anyone, to treat mages like the way she saw at the tower.  If that was how things were here, then she itched to go home.  A week into the trip to Denerim, a fierce storm hit and threw them off course.  The storm made the temperature drop as well.  Karasaad seemed to be unaffected while Rynar was content to live in his trees.

"Ahhh, what I wouldnt give to have my furs..." Arella muttered, huddling as close to the fire as she dared.

"Furs?" Caylus asked.

"Furs.  You know, clothing made of fur?  That's really warm?  Oh nevermind.  Suffice to say that I'm cold."  Caylus looked over at her shivering form, wrapped in her blanket.  He himself had taken off his armor and was in two layers of light tunics and wrapped in his own blanket.

"Come here," he said, opening his arms slightly.  Arella just stared at him, tweaking her eyebrows, "Hurry, I'm cold too."  She stood hurriedly and sat down next to him, being careful not to touch him.  Caylus frowned slightly and shifted closer, wrapping his blanket around her shoulders too.  Arella found herself practically in his lap, "You know, you have strong ideals.  I admire that, as much as I disagree with some of them."  The man wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her closer, "And you're absolutely freezing." he chuckled.  Arella turned slightly to look up at him.

"Is this your method of flirting, Caylus?  Get a girl close to you and tell her how you disagree, however, still like her anyway?"

The Templar smiled, "Is it not working?"  He leaned down to kiss her gently and she played along for a moment.  Just before their lips met, Arella moved her head past him, to whisper in his ear.

"I guess your charms just don't work on me."  She nibbled his ear playfully.  Wriggling out of his arms, she went back to her tent and waved, smiling saucily, "Good night, Caylus."

He stared after her for a moment and chuckled sadly to himself, "What are you doing?" he sighed and returned to his own tent.

The next morning, the weather hadn't cleared.  They kept moving; however Caylus knew that they were way off course.  The trees began to give way to marshes and Rynar pointed out that they were probably in the Korcari Wilds.  They adjusted their course to angle away from the bog but found themselves only getting deeper.  A few days passed and Arella was often out of breath, like her body couldn't keep up.

"Hey... can we... slow down?  Maybe... take a break?  I'm not-" she trailed off, breathing raggedly.

"Arella!" Caylus shouted, running to catch her as she toppled over.

"What happened?" Rynar asked, battling his way over through the storm.

"I... I don't... know.  Something's- ...happening." the girl managed.

"Andraste's blood, we're nowhere near civilization!"

"Andraste?  Andraste...  My... mother's name was... Andraste."

A gale whipped around them and threatened to drown out their words.  Suddenly, with a crash of thunder and lightning, a decrepit old woman stood above them.  She wore tattered clothing and was hunched over.  Caylus swore and leapt back, drawing his sword.  Rynar didn't move, he just stared and whispered something.  The old woman cackled and the wind died down at her whim.

"Asha'bellanar..." Rynar repeated, his voice cracking.

"Ah, yes.  The young Dalish." the woman said shortly, she turned to Caylus, "Sheath your steel, boy, and let us converse like civilized beings."

"Who are you?" he asked cautiously.

She laughed again, "This one knows me as Asha'bellanar but you may call me Flemeth"

"Flemeth?" Arella mumbled, "No... you... went by another... name once.  Long, long ago... How long?"

"You are a long way from home, girl.  I would say... a thousand?  No, nine-hundred and ninety seven years."

"What are you on about?" Caylus demanded.

"Oh come now, boy.  You must have guessed that she was not from this time.  But the fun has to end sometime.  You are nearing the end of her spell and you must go home."  Flemeth walked calmly over to Arella and tapped one of her spindly fingers on the girl's forehead.  Arella shut her eyes and her head rolled back in Caylus' arms.  Then snapped back up.

"Arella?" the knight asked.

"I remember.  Caylus, I remember!" she said, incredulously, then her eyebrows knitted together and she looked at Flemeth, "Send me back.  I need to- I need to do something!  My mother, she-!"

"Is gone." the old woman finished, "The fool sent you away so you didn't have to suffer the same fate.  She was burned at the stake by your own father."

Arella shook her head slowly, not wanting to believe it.  Caylus just stared between the two, "Your... mother?" he asked, then chuckled softly, "The way you two are talking makes it sound like your mother was Andraste herself.  But you said that she was a mage so that can't be true."  Arella smiled sadly at him.

"If this is a thousand years later, how would you know if the great Andraste was a mage or not?  My mother was Andraste, daughter of Brona.  My father was Maferath, the Alamarri warlord.  He... betrayed us and my mother cast a spell over me to send me to safety but I wouldn't let go."  She held up her right hand, "That's why I had those wounds on my wrist."  Caylus just stared at her in shock.  Everything he had known, what he had thought was true about the prophet and what she had been fighting for, was wrong.

"So... the elf... that you said was your mother's friend.  Was Shartan." Rynar asked, not really believing that this was actually happening.

"Yes." Arella answered simply.

"But-" Caylus started but couldn't think of any argument.

"Quickly, girl.  The spell will not last much longer." Flemeth cut in.  Arella looked at her then glanced at Caylus.  The old woman just smiled.

"Caylus, come with me." Arella asked suddenly, taking his hand.

"What!?"

"Come back with me!  I belong there, but who says you belong here?"  He stared at her for a long moment.  Then smiled and made his decision.

"Okay, but only because you begged."  He leaned forward and kissed her on the nose.

"Karasaad?  Rynar?  What about you?"

"This is a... choice?" the kossith asked, "Then no, I will stay."

"That's alright, I wouldn't dare intrude on your little 'lover getaway'" Rynar chuckled, "I think I'll travel.  Care to join me, Karasaad?"  Karasaad nodded after a moment of deliberation, "Then I guess this is farewell, Arella, shem."  He nodded to her and Caylus in turn, "Make sure we hear about you in the history books."

"I wish we could have taken Anders with us..." Arella mumbled as she and Caylus waved to the other two and went with Flemeth.

"He's a strong kid, he'll be fine."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

*EPILOGUE*

After seeing Arella and Caylus disappear, Rynar and Karasaad set out to explore as much of Thedas as they could and were eventually spotted in places as far apart as Val Royeaux and Seheron.

Anders, as you know, went on to escape the Circle 6 more times till he eventually met the Warden and became a Grey Warden himself.

As for Arella and Caylus, well, they arrived back in Minrathous just after Arella's mother was burned.  Using the chaos, they fled the city, traveling south where they sought refuge with one of Arella's brothers in the Kingdom of the Planasene.  Eventually their descendants moved to the newly freed Anderfels where they stayed for centuries, until one woman moved back to Ferelden with her husband and young son.  The boy, being a descendant of the Archmage Andraste, accidentally burned down a barn when he was 12 and was sent to the Ferelden Circle.  There, no one ever knew his real name but everyone just called him Anders.
Yayyy the Final Chapter! So this is the peak of utter crap off the top of my head as Arella's mother is actually... Andraste! Originally Caylus and I believe Arella were going to die at the end but I liked them too much to kill them off like that. Instead, I added a twist at the very end there playing off of some thing that I read that said something about how some people had come forward claiming they were descendents of Andraste but the claims were always unsupported blah blah blah.

And I basically played this whole this off of the gift that you can get in for Wynne in the first game, 'The Search For the True Prophet' which was a book that claimed that Andraste was not actually a prophet but rather an incredibly powerful mage. Which explains her insights into magic and such.

A Dragon Age story can't be complete without an appearance of Flemeth so here's everyone's favorite witch :)

I hope you enjoyed reading as much as I have enjoyed writing this! :)

Chapter 1: [link]
Previous chapter: [link]
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IceQueenofMitera's avatar
OMG! OMG! OMG! I was right!

But it was the mage part that kinda threw me off.

And I absolutely love the twist at the end. :love:

Great job! :clap: