Danger at the Dig [Merrill & Charade]
She was a bit surprised by the comments of her new ally. It wasn’t often that a shem was willing to stick her neck out for Merrill, though she was finding there were a few. But, this one in particular seemed to have some knowledge of the Qunari that she herself did not possess, which also intrigued her as the last person she met that had knowledge of such was reluctant to impart any of it upon her. But that quickly dispersed as she was drawn back to the battle at hand by the woman’s gunfire.
Nodding in agreement with the woman, she did as she suggested and dug deep. Closing her eyes, she tapped into the earth’s power as slid the remaining hunter out of hiding and in plain view of her comrade’s fire. Feeling the body slump onto the earth, its life blood spilling out into it, she released the touch with a shiver. She hadn’t ever actually felt things through the earth before as if she were a part of it. Exhaling slowly as though coming out of a daze, she shook her head before attempting to focus on the shooter.
Reaching for her water skin, she brought it to her lips and drank a few sips blinking a time or two before offering it to her rescuer. “Ma serannas.” A beat before she reminded herself it was a shem she was speaking to, “It means, thank you. I wasn’t expecting to actually come out alive and with my dig at the end of that.” A nervous laughter crept from her lips. “I’m… Merrill.” Looking around hesitantly to make sure there weren’t any more Tal’Vashoth within visual range, she headed back towards her dig.
A few steps in she looked over her shoulder and called, “Come we will sit at my encampment.” As she reached the encampment, she offered the chair to the woman and took a seat against a log near the fire that had nearly burned itself out using a stick to stoke it back to a slow crackle. Curiosity getting the better of her again, she spoke, “You’re not like most shemlen. They would have just let me run until I could no more, and maybe taken a few things from the camp assuming all the Tal’Vashoth gave chase. Why did you help me?”
Charade considered the other woman’s question for a long, long time before she answered. It was an excellent question after all. Why in the Maker had she helped?
The honest answer was ‘because the elf had been in trouble’… but it was just so damned unlike her! She was not the hero type. She wasn’t the ‘run in to save the day’ type.
Yet she’d done exactly that.
She shifted slightly in her seat before she finally said, “Momentary lapse in concentration I guess.” When the elf frowned in confusion, she grinned in spite of herself. “Let’s just say it’s ah… not exactly my normal way. But you were in a pretty bad spot there. And anyone who can take out that many Tal’Vashoth on her own, well she deserves a little help.”
She hesitated just a moment and then finally came to a decision and said, “I’m Charade by the way.”
